Cambodia First Hand Experience - Blood, Sweat and Tears (literally)

Well it's been rather a long time since I last posted and I was a tad remiss in not finishing off with the updates about my travels last year. Needless to say it was all pretty amazing! It's about time that I picked this blog up again, and what better time to do so than after a two week trip to Cambodia? First though, a bit of context...

Since returning to the UK in May 2012 I have moved to London and found myself a job as Community Fundraising Officer for ActionAid. I've been working there for just over a year now and am absolutely loving it. My role is essentially to support anyone who wants to hold a fundraising activity for ActionAid - from cake sales to street collections, cross-continental bike rides, drastic hair cuts and everything in between. On a more proactive rather than reactive note I also come up with ideas for fundraising to encourage more people to get involved with ActionAid. Again, this suits me down to the ground, as those of you who have attended one of my many own fundraising events over the years will know! 

I belong to the Events and Community Engagement Team, and one of our team activities are First Hand Experiences, managed by my lovely colleague Miranda. First Hand Experiences are very similar to the different volunteering bits and bobs I've done overseas in my time. The concept is that people fundraise £3000 to join an ActionAid trip to work on a project in one of our 45 countries. A perk (a pretty nice perk actually) of being in my team is that we take it in turns to accompany the First Hand Experiences as the ActionAid representative, and I was lucky enough to join at a time when everyone else had already taken a trip - thus it was my turn! So it was that I found myself in the incredibly privileged position of travelling to Cambodia for work - not something that many people get the chance to do. 

I won't lie - I was really quite nervous about the trip before we left the UK. It felt like a lot of responsibility on my little shoulders to make sure that everyone had an amazing experience and I was apprehensive that I wouldn't live up to the expectations that Miranda and other UK colleagues had of me. However, I'm pleased to say that my fears were unnecessary - it went brilliantly! I took 22 supporters with me, ranging from 16 to over 70, from a QC to a child-psychologist, a journalist to an engineer (well, several engineers actually!). With the help of Anthony, our Build Site Manager and Jill, our Tour Operator, our mission was to help with building a library at the Trapieng Por Primary School.

It goes without saying that the week was physically tough. The heat didn't drop below 32 degrees the whole time we were building, and the work we had to do was labour intensive with tasks including moving large piles of sand and earth, mixing concrete and cement by hand, wiring columns together, brick-laying and lots of miscellaneous carrying, shovelling, wheel-barrowing, water-pumping and chain-ganging. Blimey - it makes me a bit tired just typing that list!

In between building everyone interacted with the kids - whether in lessons teaching them anything from maths to Simon Says or in their breaks blowing bubbles for them to pop. It sounds uber cheesy, but I can honestly say that by the end of our week we'd not only built a decent chunk of library (and toilet block), but we'd also built some lovely relationships with the kids - they were simply adorable. It really makes you stop and think when a entire playground of kids are besides themselves with excitement over a few pots of bubbles; they really know how to find joy in the most simple of pleasures.  

It made us all really sad to have to say goodbye not only to the kids, but to the builders we'd worked alongside, to the ActionAid Cambodia staff who were fantastic, to our Cambodian tour guides who got as stuck into the building work as anyone - everyone really came together and worked their sweaty socks off to make sure that we made as much of a difference as possible. I for one feel a huge sense of achievement - who'd have thought that group of amateurs could actually be pretty useful on a building site? Actually scrap that - who'd have thought I could be pretty useful on a building site?!

A brilliant week of hard work, friendship-making, cultural enlightenment, cute kids, insightful conversations, emotional moments and (most of all) a whole lotta laughs! I'm a lucky girl indeed. 

Incredible Incas and My Fourth Wonder of the World

Oh my goodness gracious me, and I thought it couldn't get much better than Bolivia! I am still in Cusco (leaving tonight though) and have been having the most wonderful time. I am feeling really lucky actually as I have found myself some fab people to travel with and will be with an assortment of them for the rest of my time in South America...which, incidentally, is about three weeks now - crazy!

Cusco has been similar to La Paz in some ways but I have enjoyed it so much more. The 'party hostels' I have been staying in have been a lot of fun, and I have done a lot of laughing, dancing and generally enjoying myself. However unlike La Paz I have been a lot more successful at doing things other than nighttime activities here, mainly because Cusco is just a much nicer city in my opinion. There are quite a few squares surrounded by beautiful buildings and dotted with benches and trees which make for a lovely atmosphere. The main plaza in particular is stunning and such a nice place to spend a bit of down time. It has a gorgeous cathedral on one side of it, a lovely church on another, countless restaurants and cafes, a statue in the middle and is back-dropped by soaring mountain scenery. I had a lovely day on Sunday there actually; although it is amazing to be travelling with a group, I am used to being alone for most of my time so I was starting to find the dynamic a tad suffocating and thus decided it was time for a little break. I took my book and walked down and chose a restaurant where I could sit on a balcony overlooking the plaza in the sunshine, and I treated myself to a delicious soup (soup is huge here), an avocado sandwich (avocado is even huger) and a freshly squeezed orange juice. I sat there for over an hour, just enjoying my lunch, reading my book and watching the world go by...blissful! After that I felt a lot more prepared to go back to the group at the bar at the hostel for more social butterflying.

Yesterday I escaped the hostel again (it's hard to leave when all your friends are there, they sell decent food, have a movie room and your bed is calling) to go to a chocolate factory and museum. The museum was disappointing - not much information or many things to look at, although there were some interesting pictures of the 'discovery' of Machu Picchu that showed what it looked like before being restored to what it is now. The chocolate factory on the other hand was amazing! There was lots of information all about chocolate and its significance to different cultures as well as several rooms where you could watch them making chocolate bars/truffles from scratch and also try a little bit. It was mouth watering to see and smell the chocolate go from these bitter little beans to smooth and creamy (and extraordinarily unhealthy) chocolate bars, and of course, we ended up sampling the products at extra cost! I had a Mayan hot chocolate where they brought a dish of liquid chocolate, hot milk, chilli flakes and honey and you could choose how you wanted to mix it all up. It was one of the most yummy things I have ever had and I will be attempting to recreate it when I finally return to the UK!

Definitely the best and most exciting thing I have done since arriving in Cusco however, was Machu Picchu itself. One of the modern wonders of the world (my fourth!), it was the one thing I was most looking forward to about South America and it certainly did not disappoint. In fact I have to keep pinching myself to remind myself that I have actually been there! I hadn't decided how I was going to get there before leaving the UK, apart from knowing that I wasn't going to do the classic Inca trail, partly because it is so expensive and partly because it was full by the time I even looked at it! I met lots of people along the way who had gotten there via a 'Jungle Trek' and had absolutely loved it and the people I was travelling with fancied that so I decided to tag along. However, I hadn't quite realised what I was letting myself in for and while sitting in the briefing the night before we left I started to have serious misgivings. It sounded fun in parts but Kenny, our guide, bandied about the word 'uphill' a scary amount, and kept skimming over essential details like just how long those uphills would be. Don't get me wrong, carrying my backpack has definitely improved my fitness levels, but I hadn't yet done a single proper trek since going travelling and was going with a group of almost all ridiculously fit and healthy people (including three lads from Loughborough whose idea of enjoyment is actually to do exercise until it hurts - alien concept to me). I was anticipating a sweaty and panting Camilla at the back of the group holding everyone else back and having a horrible time, so funnily enough I wasn't exactly thrilled at the prospect. Oh, but how wrong I was. It was absolutely amazing...four of the best days of my travels so far! It was incredibly hard work and at times I wanted so very badly to give up and go home, but overall I found it so satisfying and gratifying that I could do it, and that improved my enjoyment levels beyond belief.

The first day was probably the worst. The morning was spent biking and while it was not physically challenging at all (all downhill) it started to chuck it down after about twenty minutes, resulting in us all being soaked and frozen and my contact lenses literally swimming about in my eyes so I was struggling to see where the road was going, let alone any potholes or rivers we had to cross. Somewhat dangerous considering the fact that it was a road very much in use and with some pretty severe drops down to the bottom. Luckily a kind Australian man stopped and cycled with me for a while pointing out hazards and turns in the road but at the next possible stop I gave up and got in to the van...0% enjoyment and 100% danger factor was enough for me, even though it led to a lot of comments and jokes aimed my way! After a soggy lunch Kenny dropped the next bombshell - to get to our hostel we had to walk for what he said would be twenty minutes uphill through the jungle in the pouring rain. This was the first point however at which we realised that Kenny's time keeping abilities were at about the same level as the majority of his fellow country men, and that twenty minutes meant more like forty five, and uphill meant practically flippin' vertical! Well, I exaggerate (slightly) but it was very hard work, and caused me to panic about what lay ahead. I was determined not to embarrass myself though and so I powered through and managed to keep up, even if the phrase 'Darth Vader' did get thrown about. The hostel was cute, more like a family home really where we were the only guests and the owners killed the duck for the meat eaters' dinner in front of them! Unfortunately in the evening the rain obscured our views but at breakfast we could see that it may just have been worth the walk as we were the only civilisation you could see, and in front of us sprawled incredible mountain/valley/river scenery, the scenery we were soon to be trekking through. 

Day two was the day I dreaded the most...seven hours of trekking, mainly uphill, and no 'fun' activities to break it up. We set off relatively early in glorious sunshine which was ideal as it gave me the little boost of positivity I needed. The whole day was brilliant! I was towards the front of the group for most of the time and although at times it was a struggle, I managed to keep going and actually really enjoyed myself. Part of the walk was on original Inca trail which was unbelievable - such amazing scenery and a feeling of association with this rich cultural heritage, and apart from anything else it was exciting as the path was not the widest and the drop not the shallowest! Climbing up and down the path with mountains as far as you could see amongst a group of great people was a pretty brilliant experience though, so much better than anticipated! The afternoon's walking was along a river or two which was mainly uneventful apart from a few climbs over mudslides and one particularly hairy moment where we had to cross a raging river on trees that our guides had just cut down with machetes and 'secured' over the rapids! How none of us fell in I will never know...I for one was clinging on for dear life! The final stop on day 2 was a hot springs and this was the perfect conclusion to our day's activities - a soak in wonderfully warm water was lovely and soothing for feet that definitely didn't like being battered in trekking shoes and muscles that have probably never worked so hard! 

Day three then was the one I was most looking forward to (minus Machu Picchu itself of course) because it included zip lining. I'd never tried this before but was very excited to give it a go...mainly because it wasn't walking uphill for once! I'd forgotten though that we would have to get up to the first one somehow and so that involved some serious uphilling, but I didn't mind so much because I knew what was coming and I was at the back with Grace anyway (one of my newfound besties) who was struggling with a chest infection. Zip lining wasn't as fast as I had hoped for but it was a lot of fun and had the unexpected bonus of beautiful views from the lines. There were two out of four lines where you could let go of the line and dangle down and they were definitely my favourite as you ended up going the fastest and felt the most adrenaline - brilliant :) 

Our walking that afternoon was fine. It wasn't challenging because we were walking along train tracks so it was all flat but it was a bit boring and drizzling so we were all a little miserable. Had a lovely chat with one of the lads though which passed the time admirably and cheered me up no end! It was a little demoralising also as where we were waling we could see the mountain that Machu Picchu wis hidden behind, ie the mountain we would be climbing the next day, and it was very big and threatening, or at least as threatening as an inanimate natural object can be. We got to our destination, Aguas Calientes, for the night and everybody went pretty much straight to bed, anticipating a long and arduous day the next day, starting at 4am. There were two options for getting to Machu Picchu; the first was a cozy bus that drove you right to the top and the second was a climb up 2000 stairs over which you climbed over 1000 feet. As tempting as the bus option was I decided (in a moment of pure insanity) that seeing as I had surprised myself by my ability to keep up thus far I might as well give the steps a go. Well my goodness me, it was honestly the hardest physical thing I have ever done. It was pitch dark when we started and the steps were not gentle - for the majority of them I had to raise my knee to almost 90 degrees, and for some you had to actually climb hoisting yourself up with your hands as well. I started off with the boys but after about 2 sets of stairs was almost vomitting with the exertion and was really finding it hard to breathe so I sent them ahead so that I could tackle it at my own pace. And tackle it I did. It was horrible and by the end I was a mess, well by three minutes in I was a mess, but I got there and I did it in quite a good time. Our guide had said to leave one and a half hours for the climb but I made it to the top in under fifty minutes which I was absolutely thrilled about! Of course some of our lads did it in thirty five, but that is just silly so I'm not worried about that at all. The buzz it gave me, to know that I had achieved that, completely dispelled my tiredness and I was on an endorphin high for most of our time at Machu Picchu - ideal considering the fact that everyone else was shattered from the exertion and early start. 

The benefit of being with these super fit lads was that they were right at the front of the queue so we were the first people in and got to see Machu Picchu at its most atmospheric - empty of people and hazy with sunrise light; it was one of the most awe inspiring things I have ever seen and literally took my breath away (or that might have been the 2000 steps). It is an incredible place; a mix of natural splendour with the mountains all around and historical/cultural/spiritual wonder with the buildings and terraces abandoned by the Incas to preserve the secret of this sacred sight from the Spanish invaders. We had an excellent tour by Kenny where he explained so much about the history of the place and the Inca people and where he showed us some of their most amazing and mind boggling achievements, such as a Sun temple where on the two equinoxes of the year at a certain time the sun shines through a certain window onto a certain point, and this has been happening for centuries like clockwork - fascinating! The atmosphere was so mystical for me and so laden with a past that was almost palpable, even once it got a bit later and the tourists began to swarm. 

We had paid a bit extra to climb up to Machu Picchu mountain, which apparently has superb views over the whole site. However, everyone (including the fit lads) was exhausted and had shaky legs syndrome so we decided to leave that. Instead I suggested a walk up to the Sun Gate, the original entrance to the site from the Inca trail, which as really the only part of the Inca trail I was sad to miss. Not everyone came but a group of us went and I am so glad I was one of them. I purposefully didn't turn around for the whole walk until we got to the gate and when I finally looked the view was so spectacular. There was the amazing sight of Machu Picchu bathed in sunlight, towered over by Huayna Picchu, the sacred mountain where Incas used to carry out important rituals and sacrifices, surrounded by lush green forested mountains, with snowcapped peaks in the distance - one of those mental pictures that you know you will never forget, and which makes you realise what an incredibly lucky girl you are. 

The walk back down was difficult - my knees were in agony and every time I placed a foot down my whole leg shook as if I was Bambi. I got there though, and having completed all of that exertion made me feel very proud of myself. I was happy that it was over however, and getting onto a train to go back to Cusco, civilisation and no more walking was a very welcome prospect! The only trouble is I have got a bit of a taste for it now and so tonight am catching a bus to Arequipa with one of the lads to do the Colca Canyon trek for a few days. I am looking forward to it but also a tad nervous as several people now have told me that it is harder than Machu Picchu...will report back when I return! Well not return, continue, as after Arequipa it's to an oasis in Huacachina for some sand boarding and then to Mancora for a week or so on the beach before Lima for a couple of days and then my flight to Uganda! Can't believe my time in South America is coming to an end...thank goodness I have Africa to look forward to :) 

That's all for now folks, lots of love as always,
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Breathtaking Bolivia

I'm in Peru! Can't write about that yet though as I have the whole of Bolivia to get through. I will just say that Cusco is a beautiful city and that I am very much looking forward to spending a decent amount of time here. It's lovely actually, as South America is the first chunk of my travels where I have been able to be more flexible with what my plans are, so if I decide I like Cusco then I can just stay a bit longer than I originally thought, and that is fine by me! Unfortunately at present I am paying for the fact that I did exactly that in La Paz (capital of Bolivia); I ended up staying ten days and the majority of those were spent having way too much fun. Ah well, all's well that ends well and now I am recuperating in a lovely little private room in a lovely (not so) little city, getting ready to move into a (maybe not so) lovely (definitely not) little 'party hostel' tomorrow...what a life!


But first things first...Bolivia. Well, I don't even know where to start really; Bolivia completely exceeded my expectations! It's a country of stunning natural diversity, a history full of drama, more brightly clad and fascinating indigenous people than you could shake a wooden flute at, and, best of all, the most colourful and cosy woollen items that I have ever seen in my life! So actually maybe that wasn't the best thing about Bolivia, but I think it may be the thing that sticks in my mind the longest...you simply cannot get away from alpaca wool and I do not believe that that's a bad thing! 


My time in Bolivia didn't get off to the best of starts. At the end of my last blog I outlined my travel plans for the next few days, plans that meant that I wouldn't be on a twenty four hour bus for my birthday. Those plans went somewhat awry. This resulted in me being on not only a twenty four hour bus, but also another twelve hour bus for my birthday, so I actually woke up, was awake and went to sleep on buses for the entirety of my twenty third birthday - not ideal. Basically what happened was that I got to Asuncion (first stop) and there was a bus leaving an hour later. Well, that seemed to be a tad fateful to me, as it saved me spending a night in a country that I didn't really want to be in, so I jumped aboard and thought that at least I would spend the night of my birthday in Santa Cruz. That bus was an experience and a half. To get to Bolivia from Asuncion you drive through an area called the Trans Chaco, which is essentially an (almost) unpopulated scrub land, where the 'road' is a dirt track, and all that you can see for miles and miles, or what amounts to about nine hours, are little bushes dotting the landscape. Somewhere in the middle of that is the Paraguay/Bolivia border, where everyone gets off the bus to go through border control, filling in some highly questionable forms along the way, gets a stamp in their passport and then trundles back on to the bus. Once we were in Bolivia proper, the terrain changed dramatically, so that we were climbing up the same sort of dirt tracks, but this time going up and over mountains. This was, how shall I say, an interesting experience, as I had heard horror story after horror story about how during the rainy season (which is from January to April) landslides turn this road to slush and buses get stuck for days at a time, and looking over the edge of the road that our bus was teetering around, I was wondering how on earth buses stay on it during the dry season let alone the wet! There were no disasters though, and the only problem that I had was the Bolivian man sitting next to me. At first I perceived him to a cheery, chubby chappy, but it turned out that actually he was an obese pain in the bum. He spread out over both of our seats, would not leave me alone despite my pleas that I just wanted to sleep and, worst of all, when I finally did manage to doze off, he woke me up by trying to hold my hand! Not the perfect bus partner to say the least! 


When we arrived in Santa Cruz I was just glad to get off the bus and away from my admirer and I planned on spending the night there to break the journey a bit. However, when I went to a booth to get my ticket for the next day, the man behind the counter kindly informed that there was in fact a bus leaving in thirty minutes which he could get me on, and in a moment of utter insanity, I bought a ticket and found myself waiting at the fourth platform in two days. I'm still not sure what made me do it. I think it was the thought of having to wake up in the morning with prospect of another bus journey hanging over me, whereas at least this way when I woke up the next day I would know that I would be getting off buses for a while. Well whatever it was, it had me on a bus to Sucre that night. Seeing as it was my birthday and I was clearly going to spend it all on buses I decided I had better open my cards and presents then. Bad idea. There I was, sitting all alone, on my fourth bus of two days, surrounded by strangers, cold, hungry and in need of a wee, already feeling, shall we say, a tad emotional, and I decide to get out birthday greetings from my nearest and dearest. Needless to say, this tipped me over the edge, and every new thing that I opened led to a fresh wave of tears. Don't get me wrong, I am so very grateful that anybody even considered sending things all the way to South America with Carris, and they brought me a lot of happiness, but at the time, they just completely overwhelmed me. 


At this point I thought thing could get no worse. And then it started raining. Inside the bus. Looking back it was funny actually, as I glanced out the window to see it absolutely chucking it down and thought to myself, 'oh well, at least I have all my belongings with my on the bus and so they won't get wet underneath', but then felt a drip on the back of my neck, which became a trickle, which became a stream, until I was literally sitting in the rain, desperately trying to prevent everything I owned from soaking up all the water! I guess at least the rain hid the fact that I was almost bawling my eyes out! Not my best birthday. In fact, I can safely say it was my worst birthday. The way I am thinking of it however, is that in this year I am getting way more than my fair share of utterly incredible days, so it is a small price to pay to have one day that is utterly rubbish. I will just have to make up for it next year! Maybe a 'transport' theme...


The journey did mean that when I finally arrived in Sucre I was a very happy girl. I would say that I had never been so glad to get to a place, but that would mean forgetting some other joyous journeys I have done this year, and by no means was this the worst! Enough whinging though and on to the good stuff. Sucre is such a lovely city. It is choc-a-bloc with white colonial style buildings, has a stunning central plaza and cathedral, and is surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery. It has a really relaxed atmosphere to it, as although it is a University town it doesn't feel partyish, just young, invigorating and full of history and culture. There are museums around every corner, interspersed with delicious restaurants and chocolate shops, which Sucre is famous for. Possible best of all, the whole bottom floor of the central market was jam-packed with fruit and vegetables that you could buy yourself to cook, as well as stall after stall selling fresh fruit salads and shakes that were to die for. After Brazil, where it was difficult to find anything with vitamins in it, this was luxury and I spent a small Bolivian fortune (ie about 40pence per time) on shakes, salads and avocados...yummy! The hostel I was staying at had a really well equipped kitchen too, so a friend I met there and I decided to make the most of it and cook for ourselves. It was so nice after half a year's travelling to get in to a kitchen and make something for myself, and to actually feel healthy! I was in Sucre just under a week and ended up taking a few Spanish lessons. I'm glad I did as my confidence has definitely improved, as has my vocabulary, but my teacher was not the best. She was a very sweet woman, but she broke the cardinal teaching rule of not having enough material, so we ended up spending quite a lot of time with her pointing at objects and asking me what they were in Spanish, which, obviously, I didn't know! Never mind though, it definitely made me improve and I have been practicing a lot more since so now I can get by with most things I need to do, it's just a shame that I am still a long way off real conversation with any local people. 


One great thing about Sucre was that it was where I met people who have shaped my travels since. I had planned on leaving there, having a few days in Potosi, a leisurely time at the salt flats and ending up in La Paz maybe a week and a half later. However, it seemed that our whole hostel in Sucre was planning on being in La Paz for St Patrick's day, something I hadn't even considered. Apparently that that was the place to be though, so I jumped on the band wagon and hatched a ridiculous plan to get me there in time. This involved arriving in Potosi one morning, leaving that night, starting my salt flat tour the next morning, and then leaving for La Paz the night I got back from that...slightly punishing I am sure you can imagine!


In Potosi all I did (but to be fair, all I wanted to do) was the mine tour. Potosi is the highest city in the world at 4070m above sea level and is the site of a massive mine, which is the city's main tourist attraction. We spent about two hours in the mines in total, and they were two very unpleasant hours of crouching, crawling, climbing, breathing in a lot of chemical dust, banging head on the low ceilings, jumping out of the way of mine trucks, and chewing copious amounts of coca leaves in an attempt to ward off the horrendous altitude sickness, which manifested as nausea, dizziness and extreme breathlessness...not great when you are stuck in a small confined space! I'm really glad I did it though as it is always good to get a perspective on another way of life, and this really is a way of life more than a job. Despite the horrific working conditions and dangers of the job, the miners are so proud that that is what they do. Our guide was an ex-miner and it made him so happy to be able to show us his old way of life, not just the mining aspect, but their mythology in the mines. We went to see Tio, which is an idol of the mining devil to whom the miners make offerings for safety and success and all around the idol were little plastic bottles from the ninety six percent alcohol that plays a big part in all of the festivities that they celebrate down there. It seems bizarre to me that they would choose to spend any more time down in that hell hole than they absolutely have to, but clearly they do, and they enjoy it, and that was good to see. 


From Potosi it was straight to Uyuni for our salt flat tour. Apart from almost every symptom of altitude sickness under the sun, this was one of the highlights of my trip so far; it was phenomenal! We had a three day tour and it was all just so breathtaking. The first day was the Salar de Uyuni, the famous Bolivian salt flats left over from an ancient inland sea. I had seen lots of pictures of this, but nothing prepares you for the surreal beauty that is its reality. Literally as far as you can see there is just an expanse of white and although that sounds boring, the way it messes with your perception of distance is mind boggling! We did lots of photos playing with this, like me being squished between someone's hands, or doing yoga balanced on top of a coca cola bottle which was a lot of fun, but the best part of it was just standing there staring out across it, and being unable to really process what you were seeing...unreal. Lots of people only do the one day tour and so basically just see the salt flats, but I am so glad we did more as the next two days were packed full of some equally amazing sights. The highlights for me were the red lagoon where we sat for about an hour watching I don't even know how many flamingos in their natural habitat. It was amazing to be so close to such an exotic creature in the wild, and I found them fascinating. In flight they are super graceful, but when you see them stumbling around and tottering on one leg they seem a lot more comedic! I was with a brilliant Aussie girl I had met and the two of us were so overwhelmed by what we were seeing...great moment. Apart from that I really enjoyed just generally driving around in the jeep and seeing the scenery which changed so dramatically from mountains, to lagoons, to deserts, to intricate rock formations, to the Salvador Dali desert which is a desert littered with rocks from nearby volcanoes that look like they have been carefully placed to look random; so interesting! 


Next stop was La Paz...where it all went wrong. Not really, just where I got stuck having much too much fun and ran myself down to the point of the plague that I am now dealing with. The trouble was that I booked into Wild Rover, an Irish hostel with an in house Irish bar, and I was there for the finals of the six nations rugby and St Patrick's day...so it was a little wild; a lot of fun though! La Paz itself is a really cool city. It is the highest capital in the world and the whole place is on these little, very steep, cobbled streets which are full of local people selling everything you can imagine and more. I'm not actually sure what ever possessed anyone to build a city there; it seems completely illogical!There is also a witches' market where you could pick up anything from bee pollen and natural cosmetics (which I did) to dried llama foetuses and love potions (which I did not)...it was intriguing if a tad scary! 


Apart from wandering the streets and enjoying myself in the hostel I also did two outdoorsy things out of the city. The first of these was the infamous Death Road...apparently the most dangerous road in the world which you can now cycle down. Why I did this I have no idea...it was utterly terrifying. Saying that though, I am the only person I know who found it so scary; everyone else seems to have loved it! I won't say too much about it here or else I will get in trouble with Mum, but needless to say I was glad to get to the bottom of it, and very proud of myself that I did! It is amazing though as you cycle down 3600m, from cold high altitude mountains to hot tropical forest in the space of a few hours, so the scenery is incredible. Shame that I was too scared to look at it really! The second thing was much more enjoyable, and that was paragliding. We went about forty minutes out of the city for it into the mountains and it was stunning. I actually went first out of our group which was a bit daunting but it turned out really well as my co flier was able to get some good upwinds so we actually ended up above the clouds at one point. We were in the air for twenty minutes or so, and the views were spectacular; snow capped mountains all around and La Paz nestled in a valley in the distance - beautiful. It's something I have always wanted to do so I absolutely loved it...sky diving next! 


Last stop in Bolivia was Lake Titicaca, the largest high altitude lake in the world. When they say that though, it doesn't really give you an idea of just how large that is; it is massive, as in about twice the size of Wales! It was odd actually as we went over to stay on Isla del Sol on the lake and did a few walks there, and with the landscape it actually looked a lot like Pembrokeshire's coast path at times, but I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't the sea I was looking at but a lake! The island was perfect - so secluded and unspoilt (at least in the North where we were) and the perfect antidote to city living. All we could hear most of the time was the lake lapping the shores, the wind blowing and the occasional donkey braying in the distance...blissful. Hiking there was challenging because of the altitude but it was so worth it and made me both apprehensive and excited for trekking up to Machu Picchu in the near future. A very beautiful place.


So that was Bolivia! I could say a lot more but a) I think I have written enough and b) the lovely man who lent me his laptop is back and wants to watch football or some sort of sport. I did love Bolivia though and I feel quite grateful to it as a country as it opened my eyes to the fact that I actually like nature a lot more than I thought I did. I always thought I was more of a city/town girl and that history and culture were my things, but it turns out that a beautiful landscape gets me just as much! Not sure that I should be thanking Bolivia for that though as that opens up a lot more places in the world that I would love to go and see, as if there weren't enough already! Oh well, I guess at least I have a lifetime to go and see as much as I can :) 


On that note, farewell for now, hope you are all doing wonderfully!
Lots of love,
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Beautiful bums and beaches in Brazil!

And then there was Brazil! Can't quite believe I've only been here just over two weeks; it feels a lot longer as Carris and I have packed a lot in. I am so glad she came out (not so glad she has left though), and we had such a brilliant time - I am very lucky that three absolutely lovely people came to see me, not many travellers can say that I bet!

First stop was Rio de Janeiro, and what a city that is, especially if you are there during Carnaval! I'm really glad because I ended up planning my entire year around the fact that I wanted to be in Rio for Carnaval, so if it hadn't been as good as I was hoping then I may have ended up regretting that decision. However, of course, it was beyond anything I ever hoped for and just a ridiculously good week! The one downside (and it is a really little one) was that because of it being Carnaval we really didn't get to do many of the usual touristy things like the Sugar Loaf or visitng a favela. In fact the only one we did was Christ the Redeemer; a good one to choose though methinks, because it was breath taking. We took the train up to it which was amazing enough; I have never been on a train so steep and now cannot understand why there are not trains going through mid Wales, which definitely doesn't have hills that big! When we got to the top the first wow moment was the view, or I should say views, as all around you are the most incredible views of the whole of Rio. It is such an interesting city, right on the coast, but with huge skyscrapers, forests and mountains all over the place as well as a big lagoon stlye area for leisure - bizarre but compelling mix. After you have stared at that for a while your eyes are drawn upwards to the very imposing figure that is Cristo himself, towering over you with his arms outstretched, making the shape of a cross. It is one of the modern wonders of the world and it is easy to see why. You catch glimpses of it from all over the city in between the buildings, but when you actually stand at the base of it looking up you realise how huge it really is, and what an effort it must have been to construct it on top of that hill! 

The rest of our time in Rio was spent enjoying Carnaval to the fullest...and we really did go all out. Lots of people in our hostel relaxed in the day and then went out to clubs or parties in the evening, but the schedule of the 'blocos' (street parties which paraded through the streets with everyone in costume and dancing to live music) started at 6 am every day! We didn't make it out that early, but we were always out by lunch time, experiencing as many of them as possible and I am so glad we did as the best ones we went to were in the day time, even though that meant that you were almost unbearably hot; sambaing with Brazilians at 37 degrees when you are packed in with a crowd of thousands in the sunshine is enough to make anyone sweat! It's necessary though when the basic Brazilian meal consists of rice, chips, noodles, beans, meat or fish and a very small salad...ie basically carbs carbs, protein, fat and more carbs! The atmosphere of it was totally infectious as everyone is off work, apart from those poor souls who have to work for Carnaval stuff, although they got in to it as well. On the night before Carnaval officially started we went up to Santa Teresa, a lovely district on one of the hills for a pre Carnval bloco and ended up having some very intense dance lessons with a girl of about 14 called Tatiana who was selling drinks. She would disappear for a while to sell some more water and then she would be back, holding our hands and showing us the steps slowly, before counting one, two, three and going absolutely crazy and encouraging us to do the same. It was hilarious! I could not get the hang of moving both feet and hips at all, but I gave it my best shot and she definitely stood me in good stead as I was able to do a passable samba by the end of the week (I'm not sure any Brazilians would agree with me there though!). She was brilliant and set the tone for a Carnaval dedicated to having a go, making the most of it and taking on the Brazilian attitude of enjoying it as much as possible whilst trying not to let my British insticts of self consciousness come to the fore! In that vein, I drank multiple Caipirinhas, danced until I had blisters, covered myself in glitter, wore feathers in my hair, danced with lots of Brazilians, was proposed to by one, and had a very passionate kiss with another! They were certianly forward those Brazilian men; I think that the first English phrase they learn is, "you're beautiful", then "I love you", and then "kiss me", at which point they grab you and go in for the kill, meaning you have to be on your guard to say "no, obrigada...bon Carnaval", or "no thank you, have a good Carnaval" and samba away at speed! Some had done the extended English course and knew "you have beautiful blue eyes", but I'm not sure what they would have done if your eyes were brown! 

We had decided not to go to the Sambodrome for the main parade as it was really expensive to book tickets in advance, but in the end we went on the spur of the moment to see if we could get any outside, which we did, for a fraction of the price! It was insane. There are six schools per night, each with approximately 3500 people in it, so it takes one and a half hours for one school to go from one end of the sambadrome to the other! We arrived at 11pm, during the second school and stayed until about 4.30am, which was just after the fourth, at which point we were exhausted! The show that they put on was incredible. Every dancer was in a costume, many of them in big groups in the same costume, and then interspersed through the school were huge floats with yet more dancers dancing on them. Occassionally one of the schools best female dancers would come along, with a massive space all to herself so that she could show off her moves, and these were the ones that I had seen pictures of on television, with tiny thongs, glittery bras, heels like you wouldn't believe, feathers coming from everywhere, and bums that were practically works of art. They were ginormous, but so toned that while the women shook everything they had from side to side at high speed, they moved just as much as they were supposed to, with not a wobble out of place. Very impressive and a little scary! Each school had a theme and one was London themed which was fab. They had the Queen at the front, an olympics bit, a giant carousel float and (my personal favourite) a whole Alice in Wonderland section with dancing tea cups and saucers, flowers, caterpillars, white rabbits, playing cards and to top it all off a float that was Alice when she has grown so that her feet, arms and head are sticking out of the house. It was absolutely amazing and Carris and I must have been such a sight squealing and grabbing each other so that neither of us would miss anything. Thank goodness we went as I would have been gutted when friends we had met got back to the hostel and told us how good it was...after all as much as I desperately want to be in Rio for Carnaval again one day it quite possibly won't happen and so it was well worth it.

Wow, just writing about it makes my toes twitch in a desire to be dancing! I LOVED it! Especially now that I have recovered, well just about, I have been nursing a cold the last few days which is clearly brought on by sheer exhaustion. Lots of people we have met along the way after Rio were suffering as well...partying that much in the heat is tough on your body; another reason for the rest day today! The only bad thing to report really was that I got my camera stolen on the last night and so have no picutres of the week, or of Singapore for that matter. It's alright though, as others have some and at least I wasn't hurt or anything. It was a bit rubbish though as then the last day we were in Rio I spent several hours reporting it at the police station so that I can claim on my insurance...nightmare! 

From Rio we went to Paraty, an adorable little colonial town right on the coast on the Costa Verde. It was beautiful, so beautiful in fact that we decided to stay an extra two nights and skip Paranagua - a good decision as there was a lot to do in Paraty and not much at all in Paranagua. We went on a boat trip where you went round lots of islands and had stops for swimming and exploring; went to Trinidade beach for some sun bathing (or shade bathing for Carris who was like a vampire in that the moment she went into the sun she started sizzling and so consequently spent most of her time covered in a sarong, with a hat and sunglasses on, looking like she was allergic to the sunshine!); wandered through the cobbled streets eating cake and churros from street vendors, listening to live music and shopping at the cute kitschy shops; and had a day of kayking. This was my personal favourite I think - so much fun! We went round a few islands and got out to swim, and then tried to go through a mangrove forest. However the tide was so low that we just kept getting beached and having to get out into mud that was up to our knees to try to pull our kayaks along. At one point Carris was beached and I was going past and got beached too and somehow she managed to knock my sunglasses off my head with her paddle, leading to much hilarity as I yelled at her to get out of her kayak and find them, but she was stuck and so couldn't, so I went back and got on all fours in the water to try to reach them which was clearly never going to happen. At this point Carris and I looked at each other and burst out laughing and didn't stop for most of the day! Especially as after that we went to this place where during Carnaval they have a bloco called 'Bloco de Lama' which Paraty is famous for where everyone goes to a mud bath, covers themselves in mud and dances through the streets. Our kayak instructor had never taken tourists before but thought it would be fun and Carris and I wholeheartedly agreed (even if the rest of the girls on the trip were less than keen!)! When we got there we realised that it was thick mud which you couldn't even wade through but just had to fall on and gradually you sunk under the surface, where it would then just support you. It was the strangest feeling but so funny, and when we finally managed to get out we looked like monsters from a horror film! 

From Paraty we moved on to Ilha do Mel, or the island of honey in English. It was stunning. It is this teeny tiny island that we couldn't even see on our map and which noone had heard of (which admittedly worried us a little for a while as we thought maybe Carris had booked us on to an imaginary island) which is an ecological preserve that only allows 5000 people at a time to be on it and has no motorised tranportation at all. So basically, you get a boat over there, drop your stuff at your 'poussada' and then walk everywhere on nature trails; it's adorable! Our poussada was right in the jungle and we had a lovely balcony with hammocks on it from where you could see the sea over the tops of the trees, charming :) We visited some caves and then the next day were more adventurous and walked 6km to the lighthouse on the island. This was a lovely walk that turned into a bit of a disaster as both of us managed to get a bit burnt, having briefly forgotten that clouds DO NOT provide protection from the sun in this country...especially for Carris. It would have been ok but there was literally no shade anywhere along the walk and so we were in a bit of a quandry about what to do. We sheltered by some rocks for a bit but then the tide came in and so we decided we would just have to go for it. Luckily someone had put up a tarpaulin over sticks (probably for stupid foreigners just as ourselves) so we stayed there a while before tackling the last beach....flippin' long beach though! It did make me laugh, and Carris once we were safely out of the sun in our hammocks, as we were acting as if we were on some sort of 'survivor' programme, wondering how to best make it across this beach as if it was the Sahara...what a pair of idiots! 

Final stop (after one day in Curitiba) was Iguacu falls. I would say talk about saving the best 'til last but it is very difficult to compare one of the most awe inspiring natural wonders of the world with what is probably the world's biggest party. Suffice to say though, it did not disappoint! I am very lucky in that I actually went to the falls once before on a family holiday, when I was about 15 I think, and so I was going back to them which I think was possibly even more special than if I had been going the first time. My memory is appalling, so although I remembered bits of it I had forgotten a lot, and being reminded of it by moments of sheer wonder that harked back to what I had felt the first time was unbelieveable and such a privilege. They really are just amazing. I know I use a lot of superlatives (so would you if you were seeing the things that I'm seeing!) but these surpass language I think, although I would settle with saying that they are bloomin' marvellous!

We went to the Brazilian side first where you get an overall view of the falls and the chance to go down to get soaked by one. We were so lucky because after arriving at 6am on a bus we went in early which worked out so well as we got to do the whole trail and see it all before lunchtime when a massive storm came in which lasted the rest of the day. We loved it as we had seen them sunny and then got the chance to see them stormy, something not everyone sees, and we actually had a lot of fun walking back along the trail in the rain and seeing the horror on everyone's faces coming the other way as they saw how soaked we were! 

The second day we went over to the Argentinan side which was even better than the Brazilian side. The Brazilian side is beautiful but Argentina got a lot more of the falls, so it makes sense that it is more of an experience over there as you get to be closer to more of them. Our first stop was Garganta del Diablo, or the Devil's Throat. I remembered this from last time which only served to build up the suspense and anticipation as we walked along the walk way that goes over the Iguacu river on it's way to the falls. Gradually you start to hear in the distance a low rumbling, which gets louder and louder until you come to what seems like the end of the world with an unbelieveable amount of water falling into an abyss which you can't even see the bottom of. It is completely overwhelming and both Carris and I just stood there for a while, pretty much awe-struck by what we were seeing, hearing and feeling. We went from there back along to the Upper trail, which the Bible says is not so spectacular. Well clearly whoever wrote that has been travelling too long and has stopped opening their eyes or appreciating what they are seeing...it was stunning! Especially as the weather was crystal clear and sunny, and so over nearly every waterfall there was a picture perfect rainbow created from the spray. They were so brightly coloured and pristine and it made the views even more spectacular, and caused Carris and me to do similar oohs aaahs and grabbing each other as we were doing at the Sambadrome! The final trail was the Lower trail, where you see the same falls but from a lower circuit, culminating in a spot where you can get up close and personal with a waterfall; ie wet! 

It was just such a wonderful two days, and the perfect end to her time here. Fair dos, we have crammed a lot in to two short weeks and made them feel a lot longer, although saying that I couldn'tquite believe it was time for her to leave already this morning! Now it's just me again, me and my trusted friend the backpack (which is somewhat lighter after off loading a lot into Carris's) and onwards to the next stage. Unfortunately that stage is not proving as easy as I would like, as it seems it is not very common for people to go straight to Bolivia from Brazil. However, I really can't afford any other option as Brazil has rinsed me budget wise; this is not by any stretch of the imagination affordable travel! It seems that I am going to have to get a bus from here to Asuncion (Paraguay), and then wait there for a day to catch a bus to Santa Cruz (Bolivia). It should work out ok though, and at least this way I will be in Asuncion for my birthday rather than on a 24 hour bus which is what I was planning on doing! Still might be a tad lonely but Carris brought out some goodies from some lovely people for me to open so it won't be too bad and I'll have to buy myself a birthday churros or something like that! Blimey, 23, getting old. Should probably come back to the UK, settle down, get a proper job and be serious about life. However, I am having way too much of a good time to do anything sensible like that just yet, and I still have a little money left with which I can enjoy these last four and a bit months, at least I should have if I live on rice and beans for the next two!

So yes, it's always scary being on my own again but it is darn exciting too to see what the next adventure will bring; who knows what's around the corner?

So much love and well wishes, 
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Cambodia: a country of conflicting histories...

Okily dokily here we go with what will hopefully be the last of SE Asia and the first of South America in one fell swoop. Well, two fell swoops, as if I do actually get round to doing it all then it will definitely need to be in two chunks for slightly easier digestion! I am currently in Brazil at Foz do Iguacu, having been abandoned by Miss Carris Headland after a pretty darn amazing two weeks (which will be covered in the next one). She flies back to the UK today and I decided that I needed a day extra to rest, recuperate, recover the hearing in my ears and lubrication in my throat after two weeks of constant high speed conversation and research intensively for my next two months in South America. After several hours so far this morning on the internet trying to get through my to do list - something I foolishly thought I could leave behind me in the UK - I am giving myself a little respite to sit and fondly recall the very happy last month I have had, before getting back to trawling through websites trying to decipher the best way to get from a) to b) when really, there should just be a bus that goes direct! 

Last time I wrote it was about our time in Saigon (goodness, that feels like a very long time ago!), which means that the next big thing I need to relate is mine and Mum's time at Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. Well, what a place! A lost civilisation with a history all the more fascinating for the huge gaps where it was all but abandoned. The largest religious site in the world with beautiful and exqusitie architecture juxtaposed with equally beautiful but heart wrenching street children outside yelling "One dollar, one dollar, you buy from me, ok?!"  outside every temple. The eigth wonder of the world, completely overrun by tourists, but somehow managing to retain the mystique and aura of a place with a past palpable in the present. As you may be able to tell...I loved it.

We had three full days of temple visiting, with some other local sights thrown in so clearly I can't tell you everything about it, or I will never get on to South America or leave this hostel! I'll get in as much as I can though, promise :) 

On our first day we go up early so that we could see the sunrise over Angkor Wat (the biggest and most famous temple) - a 'must do' as declared by the Bible. When I say early, I mean really early, we left our hostel at 5am so that we would have time to do everything we needed to and still be there before the sun came up. All was going according to plan; we were on time, had our tickets, and had prime seats by the water so that we could see the reflection as well as the actual temple, Mum even had a coffee, but then the unthinkable happened. The sun didn't come up. Well of course it did, but we couldn't see it due to a thick bank of cloud that completely obscured our view of it. Very inconsiderate of the weather, especially considering that we had paid $5 extra for the sunrise! All was not lost however, as we decided to abandon sitting watching clouds in favour of getting in to Angkor Wat before the crowds and I am so glad we did. It was magical. To wander round inside the temple in relative quiet (a few other clever tourists had had my idea - great minds and all that) in the dark and see it as it gradually got lighter and lighter was so evocative, and made you feel like just round the corner would be a devotee hurrying to the central sancutary to perform prayers; pretty special. The temple is very impressive. It is a Hindu temple and is set out as a microcosm of the Hindu universe, with the central sanctuary being Mount Meru (the mount of the Gods), the temple boundaries being the boundaries of Earth and the moat around it being the universe. All over the walls in the main temple grounds are bas reliefs which show scenes from Hindu mythlogy and carvings of apsara girls - scantily clad and rather seductive dancers who were clearly very popular!

We wandered around Angkor Wat for hours before realising that we were starving and so we went for breakfast opposite the temple. This was our first of many encounters with the one dollar brigade - the absolutely adorable but very persistent street kids trying to sell you anything and everything from postcards to flutes to bracelets to books. I told Mum that is was not a good idea to purchase anything at which she commented that I had become 'hearltess', a comment that I can understand her making but which I think is a bit unfair, as she realised after getting her purse out. She thought that once we had bought one set of postcards that that would be that and they would go on their way and let us enjoy our breakfast in peace. Obviously that was not how it worked, and once she had agreed to buy one set, they all wanted to sell one. It's always such a difficult call as I agree with her that it is lovely to buy something from these kids as you instinctively want to help them, but you do have to be careful where you choose to get your money out, otherwise it can be tricky to get away, and obviously sometimes it just isn't safe - a tough call.   

After Angkor Wat our remork (a motorbike with a tuk tuk attached) driver Sunny took us to Angkor Thom, a sort of city of temples that was a huge metropolis compared to the London of that time which was little more than a village. We went in via one of the four gates of the city, the South gate, over which there was a giant head looking down over the road, which had a row of stone statue warriors lined along it. It was imposing even now when they have been weathered by many years; I can't even imagine how it must have looked back in the day. Our first stop in Angkor Thom was the Bayon temple. This is an amazing structure that looks completely higgledy piggledy until you look closely and see that it is built to a very complex symmetrical structure - quite amazing! It has something like 220 massive faces made out of rocks which look down over the temple. These faces were amazing, not just for the fact that they still retain their features after so long, but becase of what they evoked. One of our guidebooks said that they were benevolent faces, watching over and protecting the people whereas the other one said that they were stern faces, that acted as a warning to people to obey the king's wishes. I saw them as somewhere inbetween; impassive faces that symbolised the king's presence, and whether that presence was benevolent or angry depended on the subject. They created a very eerie atmosphere though, despite the crowds and sunlight. 


We did several more temples that afternoon before visiting Ta Prohm which was my absolute favourite of the day, second favourite overall. It is the temple where they filmed some of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - the temple which has trees growing in it/out of it/all over it and around it! It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen, I just couldn't get my head around it as you would walk around a corner to see these gigantic tree roots cascading down over the stones in a wall, and when you looked up a tree that towered over the whole temple was existing on whatever nutrients it managed to glean from the soil beneath. The fact that the walls of the temple are still relatively intact as well was mind boggling - such a unique thing to see. I loved what I saw to be the symbolism of this jungle temple; two opposing forces warring for years for dominance, each vying to outlive the other to emerge victorious, only for them to have to reach a compromise, where both coexist, each all the more beautiful for its reliance on the other.

A very successful first day, if exhausting; we were out for 12 hours! Day two was no less packed, and started with a long journey out to Beng Melea temple. We took what Sunny described as a shortcut, but even if it took longer I am so glad we went the way we did, as instead of going on a main road the whole way where all you would see was other cars, we went on back roads where you drove through village after village and lots of farmland. It was incredible! The Lonely Planet is always harping on about how the 'journey is the destination' (and on many of my journeys I have pondered this, hoping that the actual destination must be better!) but in this case it was so apt. Nearly all the houses we went past were on stilts and had lots of Khmer (Cambodian) people outside going about their day to day lives. Pretty much every child that we went passed smiled and gave us a big wave and shouted hello...it was lovely. The actual destination was not too shabby either, in fact it was my favourite temple of the lot. If Ta Prohm is the jungle temple then I have no idea what you could call Beng Melea, which is Ta Prohm but bigger, and with nature on steroids! Here the jungle has completely taken over, and although plenty of walls remain standing and there is one or two covered galleries intact, the majority of the stones from the elaborate temples lie as rubble, having given way to the trees' progression. We were shown a path through the maze of stones and jungle by a local man and then Mum went to sit down while I explored on my own for an hour and it was phenomenal. To clamber over stones intricately carved that once formed the bricks of exquisite carvings, and then to balance along the tops of walls before jumping down to wander one of the few covered walkways remaining was one of my favourite experiences thus far, just incredible. 

That afternoon we went to the floating village of Kompong Phhluk, an intriguing village built on very very high stilts because of this freak of ecology whereby the local lake changes from 2500km squared to 13000km squared in the rainy season, thus completely flooding the village! The people that live there know how to utilise it though and make the most of the fertile land left behind once the waters recede and of the copious amounts of fish in the lake (the Tonle Sap, incidentally). We went through on a boat before being paddled round a flooded forest by two young girls, which was really nice as the sun was just starting to set so it created some beautiful reflections on the water. Finally we went out to said lake (which by this point in the holiday we had already eaten lots of fish from) for the sunset which was stunning. Even though it was the dry season you couldn't see the other sides and so we had a perfect sunset - lovely jubbly! It was funny actually because Sunny clearly couldn't understand why we were so obsessed with seeing things at sunset or at sunrise, as lots of tourists clearly are as they are optional add-ons to tours. He asked us one day at lunch, "do you not have sunset in your country?" which I found hilarious. We had a chat about it and I explained that it works differently for us and that it is very hard to see a whole sunset, whereas in SE Asia the whole thing happens in about 40 minutes so you can sit from start to end and see it all. He still didn't get it though, and just said that he sees snrise every morning when he gets up..why would he pay extra for that? Amusing cultural difference but I'm definitely not fed up with sunsets yet!

On our last day we did Bantreay Srei temple in the morning, a very ornate temple that had beautiful carvings and lots of information about the temples in general. After lunch we went to the Landmine Museum, a strangely hopeful museum about one man's efforts to clear his country of landmines, many of which he actually lay when he was first a Khmer Rouge soldier and then fought with the Vietnamese army. He spent years clearing mines alone and now has set up a work force to do it, as well as a school/home for children who have been affected by mines exploding. It was upsetting to see how much damage has been done and is still being done to Cambodia by land mines but nice to learn about it from somewhere so positive and proactive. Our final stop was to see sunset (there it is again!) over Angkor Wat. This turned out to be a bit of a joke as we had to get there about 3 hours early to get a good spot as so many people go to this one temple for the sunset (it is on a hill so has good views). In the end, the sun didn't even set over Angkor Wat as we were expecting (although we could have known that had we checked a map), so it wasn't quite as atmospheric as we would have liked. Never mind though, it was a nice place to sit, and nice to see Angkor Wat from a different angle too.

And then that was it! A wonderful three days exploring some wonderful sights, and the company wasn't bad either! Next stop (and last stop with Mum) was Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Our time here was slightly marred by the fact that Mum had gotten a poorly tummy, ironically enough from the most Western thing she ate all holiday (a chicken panini) and so was quite worn out. On the plus side our boutique hotel there was beautiful and had a swimming pool surrounded by comfy recliners and plants, so we didn't mind at all being 'forced' to relax by the pool for several hours each day! And to be fair to Mum, she didn't let the bug stop us doing anything and I don't feel like we missed anything out that we wanted to see, so it was fine in the end - just a shame she couldn't enjoy the food, which is amazing in Cambodia, like Thai but a bit milder and with lots of delicious coconut currys and sea food...yum!

On our first day we decided to get the horrible bits out of the way and so went to the killing fields of Chhoeung Ek and then to S21. These were horrendous but something I think you have to do if you are in Cambodia. The killing fields are strange because they have worked hard to make it in to a very peaceful and respectful tourist site, where you can learn about what happened there and remember the victims of the Khmer Rouge with an audio guide that takes you around. In a way it should feel wrong, listening to an audio guide at such a place but they have done it very sensitively and so it is a god way to ensure that it is quiet there as everyone independently digests the information provided. That doesn't make it any easier to be told that you are standing at the point where the trucks dropped off people destined to die there, or where hundreds of people were buried, or where babies were killed by being hit against a tree, and it was a very upsetting experience. They also had a section of stories from survivors and these were harrowing to listen to as well; the whole thing was just awful. The centre of the site is a memorial stupa that has been erected to honour those who dies there and for me it shows in microcosm the tone of the place. It is a beautiful stupa, but inside it is filled with all the skulls that they have found at the killing fields as well as some of the larger bones. It is a respectful memorial, but one that doesn't let you forget the chilling reality of what happened there.

Actually I might write a bit about what happened here, as I was completely ignorant of it until I visited so I guess if you are reading this you might be too. Basically Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge was an extreme Maoist Communist who believed in the importance of farming on the land and thought that industry, culture and modernity were a plague on Cambodia. He was a supporter of what he called the 'old people' - farmers and rural people - and despised the 'new people' - people in the cities. He staged a take over in which the Khmer Rouge soldiers marched in to the cities of Cambodia and within three days had completely emptied them and sent everyone to work in forced labour camps in the countryside. Over the next four years over 3 million people out of a population of about 7 million died due to overwork, famine, disease, torture and murder. Anyone considered 'subversive' or anti the Khmer Rouge was sent to torture prisons and later murdered at various killing fields all over the country, and towards the end of the regime when Pol Pot became increasingly paranoid the number of people dying rose to terrifying heights. Eventually the Vietnamese army came in and liberated Cambodia in 1979 and since then the country has been working to recover from the 'social experiement' that left almost half its population dead and many more orphaned, homeless, starving and injured. In the years immediately after the regime, the UN was still inviting Pol Pot and members of the Khmer Rouge to meetings and was chaneling funds to them to aid Cambodia (obviously the Cambodian people never saw this). Pol Pot died of natural causes and others who perpetrated the horrors are only now on trial, a trial moving so slowly that many of them will probably also die without ever atoning for the wrongs they did.

In many ways, S21, the torture prison that used to be a school, was more difficult to handle than the killing fields. I think that part of that comes from the fact that they have done very little to alter the prison and so it feels all too real as you walk around the rooms which still have the chains cemented into the walls from where numerous prisoners were crammed into one room, or rooms which have been filled with 0.8m by 2m brick cells for individual prisoners. In one of these rooms there was still a blackboard from when the building was used as a school (Pol Pot didn't believe in education as he thought it corrupted the purity of young minds) and the juxtaposition was haunting. Two of the buildings have been converted in to exhibitions, where they have displayed the mug shots of every prisoner who came in to S21. There are pictures of every sort of person; men, women, children, old people, babies, beautiful people, ugly people, scared people, angry people, sad people and maybe worst of all, resigned people, who were staring at you from the photographs with no hope, and the knowledge that they were probably going to die there. Amidst these mugshots were photgraphs of emaciated and naked dead bodies, with the simple caption "Dead after Torture" and to see the difference in the state of these people when they arrived and when they died was shocking; I can't even imagine what they went through. 

The whole thing just made me so angry and terrified. This finished just ten years before I was born, in an age technologically advanced enough that there is a photograph of every prisoner: that's much too close for comfort. Even worse, it's still happening. Maybe not on the same scale, but in Burma ethnic groups are being methodically wiped out, something conveniently masked over when there is money to be made from the corrupt regime in power. In the visitors' book there was a comment from a Nepalese person who said that similar things are happening in Nepal. I can only hope that it is not too long before the world opens its eyes and sees and admits that horrible things like the Khmer Rouge are not just dark episodes of history, but they are hapening in the present.    

We did also do some nice touristy things in Phnom Penh, like the National Museum, Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda which were beautiful buildings and full of a much brighter history. It was a very special end to a very special three weeks with one of my very favourite people in the whole world and I am so grateful that she came to see me, and while there spoilt me rotten! It was really hard when she left but I soldiered on and went to Singapore, which I actually liked a lot more than I thought I would. It is very clean and safe feeling as everyone says, but I didn't find it 'sterile', just a nice change! It was very expensive though, or at least I thought it was until I got to Brazil! More on that to follow...

Lots of love,
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Hilarity in Ho Chi Minh!

As you may have noticed from the somewhat abortive nature of my last blog post, I didn't have much time for blogging while Mum was here with me...instead I was engaged in living a life of veritable luxury and enjoying every second of her company. Now that she has abandoned me, I have to get back to fending for myself and as I am not quite as organised when she is not around I can never quite work out how long I will have in inernet cafes (or whether I will even be able to find one, which was my problem today). I'm going to do the next few posts in bits because of this very reason, otherwise I end up with ones half finished and they are out of date by the time I get a chance to get back to them. So the first will be my (and our) impresion of Ho Chi Minh city, or Saigon, as most people still call it. 


Our very first impression of Saigon (which I am going to stick to because it is several less letters to type and the keyboard I am using is awful!) came while we were still in Hanoi. At breakfast one morning we met an older American couple who live in Hong Kong. It was funny actually, as they felt the need to clarify that they were American, even though it was blatantly obvious not only from their accents, but because I am afraid to say that the man, at least, fulfilled the American stereotype and was rather overweight, loud, and as it turns out, a tad ignorant. Now I am not saying that I subscribe to such stereotypes; I have, after all, met some thin, quiet and very intelligent Americans. However, with the accent to cement it, it was clear where they originally came from. Anyway, I digress. We were chatting to them over breakfast and it transpired that they had spent some time in Saigon...and hated it. They were so negative, and kept saying how it felt so unsafe as a city and was overcrowded and just generally horrible. Needless to say this worried us a bit; Mum more than me despite me trying to tell her that you cannot go by what other people think of places. Luckily our first concrete impression of Saigon came when we were on the way to Mui Ne, the beach part of our holiday together. We went through Saigon and had an afternoon exploring a bit and both of us agreed that we liked the feel of it very much. An opinion that was only strengthened once we got back from the beach.

I guess that at this point I should be entirely honest and admit that the Americans were right about one thing and that we did have one very unpleasant experience on our last morning. We had gone for a walk by the river and had just paused while waiting to cross the road (which felt like trying to cross the road in India, ie, as if you are taking your life into your hands/feet every time), when a man on a motorbike on the pavement grabbed Mum's silver necklace and stole it from around her neck. I know you will be thinking 'how on Earth did they not notice the man on a motorbike on the pavement?' but that in itself is not at all unusual; motorbikes (and occassionally tuk-tuks will drive any way necessary to go a bit faster, whether this is on pavements, through petrol stations, through car parks, wherever really. She wasn't hurt, and luckily the necklace held no sentimental value, but obviously we were both very shaken up; it's horrible when someone violates your personal space like that. It made me realise that my policy of not wearing anything that even looks expensive is not overly cautious though; it just isn't worth making yourself a target (not that it was Mum's fault at all of course).

That aside, our four days there were briliant! Our hotel was amazing. We were on Dong Khoi road, the same road as the Caravelle and Sheraton hotels (which apparently I should have heard of) and our hotel had a rooftop pool and jacuzzi, a gym, a doorman and, most wonderfully,...a bath in our room! Unfortunately the staff at reception and on the doors were under the impression that we were clinically insane (or plain daft), for which I cannot blame them. We (and when I say 'we' I mean Mum) did a series of ridiculous things which clearly perplexed the poor staff, but which I plan to put together with some other classic comedy moments from our three weeks to form a sketch show and make my millions. The first thing(in Saigon, there were many, many before) was that the doorman had to intercede when Mum tried to pay the taxi driver 300,000 Vietnamese Dong instead of 30,000, leading to reception very politely informing her that you have to count the number of '0's on the notes before paying, and me confiscating the money to prevent her bankrupting us. The second was that she went down to ask where out bathrobes were located, only she somehow asked in such a way that they thought that we couldn't find the bathroom in our room and so, again very patiently, they explained to her exactly where we could find the bathroom. Of course she didn't feel the need to correct them, but just listened and nodded, so they really thought we couldn't find our bathroom! There was also a mix up with our room number that I never managed to get to the bottom of because when I came down to meet her in the lobby and she told me the others I was laughing so hard that I couldn't stand, a position I found myself in daily. I can't tell you the other sketch material as one of you might get there before me and write the next French and Saunders (if you are wondering who would be which I will just say I wouldn't be French...), but let's just say there are pills, crockery and bananas involved!

One more hilarious moment I simply have to share (because otherwise Mum will try to pretend it didn't happen) was on our second full day. We had woken up at 6am ready for a daytrip along the Mekong river which we had booked on our brief transit through Saigon on the way to the beach. At 6.25 we were all ready to go and doing our last minute check of everything at which point Mum was reading out our ticket details...
Mum: "One ticket for two people."
Me: "Yes."
Mum: "One day trip on the Mekong."
Me: "Yes."
Mum: "Departs at 7am."
Me: "Yes."
Mum: "On 31st January."
Me: ....No Mum, today is 1st February."
Mum: "You're joking."
Me: "No Mum."
Mum: "Oh <insert expletive here>."
I found this absolutely hilarious, as was her attempt at acting when we got to the tourist office and they poliely informed us that we were, in fact, a day late. She turned to me with a pantomime 'shock' expression, and pointed dramatically at the calendar saying "is it?!" at which point the woman calmly said "yes, it is, would you like to buy a new ticket?" The whole situation had me in creases, which I'm not sure Mum apreciated! 

Once we eventually got on the trip it was really good. We saw a honey farm (where I was talked into buying a bottle of honey...just what every traveller needs in their back pack), watched coconut candy being made (unfortunately I am now a coconut candy addict), sampled snake wine (which we later found out is mildly poisonous), saw life on the riverside and watched a traditional musical performance; it was fun!

We had long enough in Saigon that we managed to see all the main sights, including the Post Office, Notre Dame Cathedral, the War Remnant Museum, the Reunification Hall, the Jade Emperor Pagoda and lots more that I am clearly momentarily forgetting. Most of these were enjoyable, but I found the War Remnants Museum harrowing. I'm not saying I regret going - I think it is really important to eduate yourself about horrible things that have happened/ are happening in the world - but it definitely wasn't something I enjoyed. The majority of the museum is made up of photographs of victims during the Vietnam war, and of victims since, victims still suffering from the after effects of the extensive pollution of the land by Agent Orange and other toxic chemicals. I won't go in to details, but will say that I had to run to the toilet at one point because I felt physically sick. The exhibitions were quie propagandist in tone which I actually found detracted from their effect a bit, but some of the captions were very thought-provoking, such as one that described the use of Agent Orange as an 'American experiment,' a claim that I cannot support or refute due to ack of knowlege, but which upset me nonetheless. 

The Jade Emperor Pagoda on the other and was a very enjoyable experience. The temple itself was very like the temples we had visited in Hanoi, but what made it so special was the atmosphere there. It must still have been Tet celebrations, because the temple and surrounding grounds were absolutely choc-a-bloc with devotees; it felt more like a temple in India than South East Asia the way we were jostled and carried along by the crowd and were in the way no matter where we went! While we were there a procession of people with two huge Chinese dragons came into the temple accompanied by musicians bearing drums and bells - it was quite a sight to see!

On our last full day we went off the beaten track a little into the Cholon district, otherwise known as China town. We visited lots more temples and pagodas which were quite different to what we had seen previously. These had more intricate carvings on the outside of them and were, well I think the word is 'gaudy' on the inside, but I don't mean that in a negative way! There was just a lot of bright fabric, flashing lights and fake gold/precious gems everywhere; it was very impressive though. At lunch we walked over to the Bin Tay market, a huge market mainly for wholesale goods. The market itself was great and I managed to get Mum to eat street food (or as close to it as she was going to get) but even better was the walk there. It showed Mum local life, which carries on with no discernible links to tourism, complete with the cacophony of smells that I have grown used to in Asia blending seamlessly from food to oil to Chinese herbs to sewage to incense to smells that I have never encountered before and have no idea how to categorise!

So that was Saigon! Throw in some delicious food, plenty of shopping, live jazz, fruits galore, swimming, drinking cocktails, baths and lots of laughs and you might have an idea of how great a time we had :)

Lots more to tell - Angkor Wat for a big one! - as well as Phnom Penh and my brief time in Singapore which is where I am now. However I can't linger as tonight I am flying to South America! Well, to Dubai first and then to Brazil...27 hours after I leave Singapore! Could be interesting. So for now I shall say a fond farewell to you and to Asia, which has treated me very well :) 

Hope you are all happy and well!
Lots of love,
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Travel during Tet...

Sin jow (hello) from Vietnam! Oh, and while we are at it, Chuc Mung Nam Moi (Happy Lunar New Year)! Mum and I are currently in Hanoi where Tet, the Chinese New Year is being celebrated with gusto. This was a bit of a surprise as neither of us had really realised that it was happening. It has caused us a spot of bother actually because, as I suppose you would expect with a festival, lots of people (in fact most of Hanoi) go on holiday to visit friends and family. This means two things: 1) Most businesses in Hanoi are closed for at least the three days of the start of the Lunar New Year, so it has been a tad difficult to find somewhere to eat in the evenings (especially seeing as Mum is still wary of street food) and 2) Transport and accommodation in the rest of Vietnam are pretty choc-a-bloc with Vietnamese people who are taking the opportunity to travel. This second consequence wouldn't have been an issue but Mum and I decided to change our travel plans a little bit due to the weather. It is really cold in Hanoi, and not just for me after getting used to hot weather...Mum has been cold too, and when we checked the forecast for the next place we were due to visit (Hue), it seemed we were in for more of the same. I personally didn't fancy being cold and wet for over a week, and luckily Mum felt the same, so tomorrow we are flying down to Mui Ne, apparently the most beautiful bit of beach in all of Vietnam, to spend a few days sunning ourselves. I am really looking forward to it! After that we have a few days in Ho Chi Minh, before hopping over to Cambodia to visit Siem Reap, the infamous temples of Angkor Wat and finally Phnom Penh before we part ways. I don't want to think about that bit yet though!

Despite the slight hassle caused by Tet, I am really glad that we happened to be in Hanoi at this time. It's funny because I seem to have ended up doing a sort of festival tour of Asia for my first four and a bit months travelling; I had Durga Puja in Kolkata, Diwali in Delhi, Loi Krathong, Shan New Year, and our New Year in Chiang Mai, and now Tet in Hanoi...amazing when you consider that I didn't plan my travels with any of those in mind! From my experience you definitely get to see the best of a country during their festive periods, even if you don't see it as it normally is. I'll use Hanoi as an example...While wandering around the last three days Mum and I have seen a very different city to what I was expecting from what I had been told about Hanoi. I had met many travellers who had been to Hanoi, and although they had different opinions about the city's merits or shortcomings, all agreed that it was a crazily busy city, overrun with motorbikes, markets, shops and a general sense of hustle and bustle that at times was somewhat overwhelming. Although I am sure that Mum would disagree with me, this is not the Hanoi that we have seen. Yes, there are an inconceivable amount of motorbikes on the roads, following similar traffic rules to the other Asian countries I have been to (ie, not many), and in places, the city has been really busy. In another way it feels like a bit of a ghost town...most shops and restaurants are closed, and in areas without temples or tourist attractions, there seems to be nobody around. However, if you open your eyes as you walk about, you see that all the people you were expecting to be selling Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) or handicrafts on the streets are still there, but they are inside with their families, or they are paying homage at one of the many temples, or they are at the tourist sites, taking pictures with friends. I would rather see it like this. 
 
On Saturday and Sunday, before Tet began, I found the people of Hanoi to be quite cold and distant, especially compared to Thai people who were in general so friendly and warm. It wasn't anything I could exactly put my finger on, but there just wasn't the same feeling of welcome that I had experienced previously. I can completely understand this as Thailand is pretty unique in SE Asia in that it has never been under the control of a Western power, and also in that it has a remarkably peaceful recent history. Vietnam, in contrast, was a French colony for a long time, and in relatively recent history has suffered under one of the most infamous wars ever. Indeed, the first thing that will enter most people's minds at the mention of 'Vietnam' is the horrific war that ended in the 1970s. It sort of makes sense then that people in Vietnam would be slightly more wary of Western tourists than Thai people. However, yesterday and today when Mum and I came across people in the context of Tet, they seemed completely different; lots of people have wished us Happy New Year and several have stopped us to ask where we are from and what we think of Vietnam, and it's been lovely! Apart from the change in attitude, it is fascinating to see the temples, pagodas and monuments that are listed in the guide books as 'places of interest' come to life as much more than just a tourist sight. Every temple we have visited has been completely packed, full of people praying, bowing, offering money, lighting incense and doing many more actions to show praise and honour to ancestors and religious figures. Today we were fortunate enough to go in to a beautiful temple on a lake in the old quarter of Vietnam where there was a group of people dressed in traditional costume performing a music/dance worship. A group of musicians were inside the temple playing traditional Vietnamese instruments (which I find so intriguing - they are different from other Asian instruments I have come across so far) and outside were brightly clad dancers with fans performing traditional dance in front of the altar. We stayed there for ages quite mesmerised by their graceful dancing and the strangely soothing timbre of the music, and that is something we would never have experienced if it wasn't for Tet. For me, that is what travelling is all about, seeing a culture in action, and seeing rich historical traditions being lived in a vibrant and real way in the present day.