The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Phnom Penh

29 January, 2014.

There is something strange about the tuk tuk and moto drivers merrily touting the Killing Fields or the S-21 Genocide Musuem as if it were a trip to see Disneyland, but both these sites are must do visits for most travellers to Cambodia, ourselves included. In some ways it could be seen as a welcome sign that just forty years after the monstrous Khmer Rouge regime, the country and its people are moving on. It would be foolish though to think its been forgotten, as so many Cambodians lived through it, and one day reliving the details is bad enough, never mind a lifetime.

Day 7 - Royal Palace and National Museum, Phnom Penh

27 January 2014.

The Royal Palace is one of the top visitor destinations in Phnom Penh and so an excellent place to begin our three full days of exploring. It has a fairly central location to most hotels and guest houses but with the chaotic traffic of the city, it's much easier to arrive by tuk tuk. You really do take your life into your own hands crossing any major road here, as the scooters and cars undertake, overtake, drive on the wrong side of the road, and appear to take pedestrian dodging as a local sport.

Day 6 - Siem Reap to Phnom Penh

27 January 2014

After our final delicious breakfast at Seven Candles, it was time to leave for Phnom Penh. There are several ways to cover the 300km south to the capital, including by plane, boat or by bus. We decided to try the bus, and picked the Giant Ibis coach, which was slightly more expensive than the others but offered more leg room and a few other luxuries, which we felt were good value at just $15pp, for a seven hour journey.

Day 5 - Ta Prohm and Banteay Srei, Cambodia

26 January, 2014.

Our final day at the temples, and we'd saved arguably the most famous of them all until last. Ta Prohm isn't famous for its stunning construction, imposing towers or magnificent carvings. Quite the opposite in fact, it's famous for its tree roots. Which is all down to Lara Croft, her of Tomb Raider fame and the one screen shot of Angelina Jolie jumping through a doorway covered by enormous Banyan tree roots. This tree root has even been afforded the luxury of its own name, and is now known as The Waterfall.



To give this some context, by the time the French colonists uncovered Ta Prohm, it was completely overgrown and hidden in the midst of the jungle. Giant trees had grown throughout the temple, often in between walls and through thick stone beams. It's quite incredible just how the roots crawl and spiral down from the top of the temple roof in search of the earth beneath. The French did the right thing, pretty much leaving it all as they found it, and for us to wander through and marvel at it all.

After Ta Prohm, we headed 35km north of Siem Reap to Banteay Srei, one of the few temples never consecrated by a king. It may well be the smallest of the temples, but it is also quite possibly the most ornate, with finely preserved carvings and engravings. Unfortunately it is incredibly popular and we found it a little overwhelming. If you weren't being pushed along by bus loads of Koreans, you were being chased by local children begging you for 'one dollar, please.' The authorities have done their best to host the hoards and created an excellent visitor centre (the best throughout all of Angkor's temples in fact) but it simply isn't big enough to cope. The best place to catch some peace and quiet is  by the ponds with the water buffalo.

We stopped off at a roadside market on the way back, thanks to our new friend and trusty tuk tuk companion, Piseth. It was quite a nice way to be shown how palm sugar was made, with dozens of stalls boiling it up in huge pans by the road.

After lunch opposite Srah Srang, the Royal Swimming Pools, we moved on to visit the Pre Rup temple, a formidable temple mountain rising from the roadside with its six massive brick towers - well, five to be precise as the sixth never seemed to get built. Pre Rup is hugely impressive and it was difficult for us to appreciate why until we later learned it was due to its brick and laterite construction, rather than traditional sandstone. Just one more stop off in our temple kingdom to complete our journey and this in fact wasn't even a temple, but the Neak Pean serpent monument.

Unfortunately it was time to start packing when we arrived back at the guesthouse, and to say goodbye to Piseth. He was part of our little temple-exploring family for three days and it will be hard not to think of him when we relive our Cambodian memories long into the future. We had time for one last visit into Siem Reap for dinner, and we had our best meal to date at the delightful For Life restaurant.

Next stop, Phnom Penh.

Day 4 Angkor Thom, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Day 4 Angkor Thom, Siem Reap

With a three day entry pass ($40pp) to the temples of Angkor, you have the time to take it at your own pace. There are so many temples, even if you raced around for three days, you may still not have time to see them all! So we've decided to start each day visiting one of the big three temples, and then take in 2-3 smaller ones split either side of lunch. That means we've finished by around 3pm, and not overly tired. 

Today's headliner was Angkor Thom, second only to Angkor Wat in terms of grandeur and impact, but by far the largest temple complex of them all. For a visit here,  it pays to have your driver pick you up at the other end from where you start or you will find yourself having to retrace your footsteps a long way back! We started at the mighty twelth century Bayon temple, which has some thirty odd towers each with a massive face of Lokesvara staring down at you.  From the Bayon, you can reach the 11th century Baphoun from the rear, and scale the impressive heights of it's pyramid shape. 

After the Baphoun you're best with a site map to navigate round, as their are temples, gate houses, pools and terraces spread all over. Like most visitors we eventually finished at the huge Terrace of the Elephants. From above its an imposing but fairly ordinary walkway, viewed from below though, and you're face to face with over three hundred elephants beautifully worked into the stone. It takes at least four hours to take in Angkor Thom, and more if you really wanted to explore deeper. 

The tuk tuk drivers and tour guides know Angkor well and will gladly take you to a well earned lunch at a roadside restaurant.  They are generally on the more expensive side for Siem Reap, and not much to look at, but you can still have a tasty noodle or rice dish for under $5. We weren't sure of the protocol, but ended up inviting Piseth our driver to sit and eat with us, which he was happy to do. It's a great way to learn more about Cambodian culture and the local area. 

After lunch we stopped at Chau Say Tevoda and Thomannon temples, on either side of the road. These two temples are a stark contrast to Angkor Thom in both scale and classic detail.  The restoration projects on the smaller temples in the jungle have centred on making them safe, rather than restore to full former glory. What you get is a series of shady doorways, towers and alleways that seemingly lead nowhere but into the undergrowth. They're really quite enchanting and more fun to explore as you clamber over collapsed walls and dead end corridors. One thing is for certain, no two temples are alike so there's plenty to keep you interested. 

After another stop at a smaller temple we decided that it was time to call it a day out in Angkor. We headed back to the guest house for a shower and an hours rest. At my insistence we took another massage at frangipani spa, which was heavenly again, before heading out for dinner. Presumably because it was the weekend, we had to wait a little while for a table at Kymer Kitchen, and eventually shared one with a couple of university staff from New Zealand, who were hosting thirty students on a trip through South East Asia. Meeting like minded, friendly explorers and getting to share a few stories, and tips is definitely one of the highlights of visiting countries such as Cambodia -  it seems that the adventurous definitely make for more interesting conversation!

Day 3 - Kompung Phluk, Cambodia

Day 3 Kompung Phluk

We opted for a trip to Tonle Sap lake today, with a visit to a local village market en route to the Floating Village of Kompung Phluk. You could organise this yourself co-ordinating transport to the boat dock up stream, and then renting a boat and driver yourself from the hundreds happily waiting for your fare. That said, we chose the easier option of to joining a tour, which has the benefit of a local tour guide as well as the door to door pick up (www.beyonduniqueescapes.com $30 pp.)

The stop off at the buzzing country village market was a lively and fun encounter with the locals. The guide points out interesting stalls and will happily explain the local produce and barter with the traders on your behalf. It's a great insight into how local Cambodians live and what's on their dinner table. And they seem genuinely pleased to see you and for you to take photographs. Ever wondered how they safely get eggs home on the back of their scooters, when there are no egg boxes? Easy, crack them there and then and pour them into a baggie! There's no shortage of local snacks to try, and I'm now a big fan of freshly cut pineapple on a stick, rubbed down with a chilli and salt dip. Tonle Sap is the largest fresh water lake in the world so fish is a big draw of the market - most of the baskets still alive as they're unloaded. You can even find sea snake for your stir fry. Maybe not.

In the wet season the people of the floating village can get to the market by boat. But as its dry season, we had to take the minibus a few kilometres further up the makeshift mud bank road through the paddy fields to the temporary docks along the canal. Tourism has become a big part of the floating villagers life, and there are hundreds of boats stacked almost on top of each other. Once aboard and moving upstream, the first two buildings you see will really quite shock you. The police station and village school are suspended twenty metres in the air on stilts. Both have huge ladders rising up to reach the platforms. It's incredible to think that in just a few months the water levels will rise so much that the kids will simply arrive by canoe and hop aboard the school deck. 

As you move further down, the scale of the village is jaw dropping. Hundreds of homes float high above the water on stilts. There are people everywhere, all in the water on any kid of vessel that will float. Life really does revolve around the lake. We even saw school kids doing their homework on canoes. The homes are colourful makeshift cabins, but big enough to house families with as many as five or six kids. Husbands spend nights out on the lake fishing, whilst the women seem to do just about everything else, normally on a canoe, and with a young babe in their arms. 

At the end of the village, there's a floating taxi rank to change from the large boat to a smaller canoe for a paddle through the mangroves. The canoe trade looks a fiercely competitive business, with women jostling for position to make sure you take their canoe over the next one. And of course their kids are on board too! After gently winding through the forest, there is a welcome stop on a floating restaurant. It's a heavily fish based menu where you get to try that sea snake you saw at the market if you want. Or maybe you'd prefer crocodile! Well, you could if you wanted to, but we settled for drinks on this occasion. After that, you hop aboard again fora quick spin to reveal the full extent of the huge lake - it's so big, you'd think you'd reached the ocean. Then it was time to turn about and head back through the village, which is no less impressive the second time round.

We were back in the centre of Siem Reap for just after 1pm, and dropped into Kerala Indian restaurant for a dosa and daal, which were very tasty.

We'd had another incredible day, and even if I'm open to exaggerating, surely the best start to a holiday you could hope for. We opted for a bargain basement massage before dinner, at just$7 an hour, and whilst it didn't come close to the Frangapini spa from yesterday, it was still a great pre dinner treat after a hard days sight seeing! After two nights of Kymer Curry for dinner we went for pizza later down the main alleyway at Little Italy, and whilst the food wasn't outstanding, the location more than made up for it.

Day 2 - Angkor Wat, Cambodia

24 January, 2014

We went for it in a big way on our first day, diving head first into the former Kingdom of Angkor an hour before sunrise. We thought we'd be amongst the first to get to the temple of Angkor Wat, and technically we were. Well equal first at least, with around a thousand other early morning thrill seekers. The prize is the picture perfect shot of the sun rising behind the towers of the temple, with a crystal clear reflection in the pond in the foreground. Unless its cloudy and hazy as it was on this occasion, and the sun doesn't come out to play for another hour or two. The result is that we may not have got that perfect photo, but we did see Angkor Wat reveal itself slowly inch by inch as daylight crept in, and it was a truly breathtaking experience. 

Once sunrise was over, the crowd on the shore of the lake quickly dispersed and headed to explore the vast temple. Thankfully it was still only 7am and a few hours until the big tour bus tours arrived, so you can still have many parts of the temple all to yourselves. We began by exploring the outer third wall galleries in an anticlockwise direction, with four different detailed seventy metre long carvings on all four sides, all with intricate stories to tell. By 8am we were ready for a break for breakfast which we took outside of the complex itself, where the choice and price were better value. We then explored the interior of the second and first walls and all their glories, and finished on the first floor as the second floor was closed for cleaning . 

I'm certainly not skilled enough with a pen to really get across just how amazing Angkor Wat is, even though it was built over a thousand years ago. But I will say this - we often throw the word 'amazing' around quite liberally and without much thought. Angkor Wat has changed that for me and I'll be using it differently from this day forth. 

We had time and the energy to visit another temple called xxx afterwards. Though much smaller and a little worse for wear, it has a wonderful position in the middle of thick jungle, which feels like has decided to take it over for itself to enjoy. It's well worth an hour to stroll around, and we found a wonderful fresh fruit stall in amongst the ruins. Plus there is a pretty pond with good views across the main road.

Back in Siem Reap after a day bashing your feet around temples, you understand why there are so many massage parlours in town. Under the recommendation of our guest house owner we splashed out a little and had an hours session at Frangapini Spa. Wow. If I hadn't spent the day witnessing Angkor Wat for the first time, I may have used the A word. As it is, I'll just say it was the perfect way to end a very special day. 

Day 1: 13 Days in Cambodia and Bangkok

21st January, 2014.

Nobody really looks forward to an overnight flight, no matter how exciting the destination is at the end, but luck was on our side with our nine hour flight to Bangkok. Firstly we had chosen Thai Airways, for no other reason than it was the best deal, yet thankfully this is an airline with at least two inches extra leg room than any other airline I've travelled with. And the flight was only half full which meant fast service and extra space. And big thumbs up for proper silver cutlery! We both managed to sleep easily for most of the flight, and it was all done with the minimum of fuss by the excellent cabin crew. 

Our layover in the ultra modern and cavernous Bangkok airport was only an hour or so, not enough time even to realise that the country you've landed in has just declared a state of emergency due to the political protests. Which is exactly what happened, but we'll save that pending (mis)adventure for another day,

It's just a short one hour flight to the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. That one hour gives you just enough time to complete the various landing cards, visa applications and customs forms you need to fill in to enter Cambodia. There are a couple of queues you need to line up for to get your tourist visa ($20 USD per person) but its straightforward enough. 

The airport in Phnom Penh is a bit of a throwback to yesteryear with waiting areas and the arrivals hall outside in the open. We arrived around 9am in the morning into a nice cool 18 degrees temperature which meant we could spend the three hour wait here for our flight to Siem Reap outside on a cafe terrace and ponder our five day stay in Siam Reap with a Rough Guide. 

Plenty of time also to realise that no matter where you are in the world, no matter what the airport may be called, nor which continent it may be in, airports have become a global chain of faceless fast food english speaking Meccas. You notice it more when you visit four airports inside twenty four hours, and are hit by Costa Coffee, Burger King and Subway almost as soon as your feet are on the Tarmac in all four of them. I can't help but feel that's a bad thing, but at the same time I'm writing this as we sit sipping our respective flat white and green teas out of heavily branded tea cups in the aforementioned Costa Coffee.

We arrived off our propellor fired Vietnamese Airways flight to be greeted by a tuk tuk driver from the guest house - a marvellous and truly local way to travel in style! We're both really pleased with our guest house the Seven Candles, which is nice and roomy, and very welcoming. We were also taken aback by how big Siem Reap is, temples are obviously big business . It has mostly managed to retain its authenticness, and charm. The roads are the usual South East Asian bedlam, and it's dusty and noisy, but the quaint French colonial charm shines through, especially in the pretty little alleyways. 

We were impressed with our young Tuk Tuk driver Piseth, so booked him to takes us to Angkor Wat at sunrise tomorrow. After a quick refresh, we headed on our first foray into town, and by chance stumbled across the Buddhist monks' chant at the local temple which was enthralling. Then we tucked into our first proper meal in 24 hours at to vegetarian Chamker restaurant with authentic Kymer curry.

By 8pm we were fast asleep. And I'd say, well earned sleep!

9 to 5 Explorer: dealing with extreme heat on your travels.

Melbourne, January 2014

The summer has finally arrived with a vengeance in Australia this week with temperatures soaring to forty plus degrees centigrade even in the coolest states. As the country goes into meltdown (literally) over how to deal with the heat, here's some advice and tips and how to manage extreme heat when you're on your travels, picked up from experiences in far flung destinations and from four year's living and travelling in the harshest summer temperatures  that the Middle East could throw at us. 

Lederberg State Park, Victoria.

Lederberg State Park, Victoria, January 2014. 

 

Lederberg State Park is located approximately one hour west of Melbourne, north of the Western Highway. At over two thousand square hectares, it is one of the biggest parks in Melbourne and offers an excellent range of bush walks, from leisurely strolls, to challenging day walks and even overnight hikes with a free bush camp also available. You can approach the park from the east or west sides off the highway, with both options involving drives along unsealed roads for at least twenty minutes to reach a parking or picnic spot.

The Big Island, Hawaii - Ten Day Tour Itinerary

 

The Big Island, Hawaii, February 2012. 

If you’re a non-US national like us, a first time visit to any Hawaiian island is most probably going to shock you.  This could be a shock of seismic proportions, potentially even earth shattering.  You may have the idyllic vision of a remote Hawaiian Island comprising of a glorious white sandy beach, with palm trees swaying gently behind you as the crystal clear ocean laps in front of you, and a Hula girl serves you the freshest of tropical cocktails.  And you may well find this. But you’ll also find islands of destructive and seemingly bleak volcanic landscapes, huge rugged and smouldering mountains, lush tropical rainforests, and windswept isolated coastlines battered relentlessly by Ocean.  Some of the volcanic plains are too volatile to visit, large stretches of the coastline too dangerous to even paddle in, and the climate so diverse that you could be sunbathing and skiing all on the same day. This is the real Hawaii, and once you’re over the shattering of your pre-conceptions, one that will make your visit simply unforgettable.

The Boxing Day Test - the world's greatest sports event.

December 26 2013, Melbourne.

The Boxing Day Test Match is possibly the world's best sports event. There I said it. Yes, I know that is a pretty bold statement, especially when I've never been to the World Cup Finals, or the London Olympics, or the Superbowl. But I honestly don't know how they could compete.
 

The annual cricket fest combines a clash of two of the game's giants, in the world's biggest and most impressive sports coliseum of the MCG, and taken in breathlessly by almost one hundred thousand sports mad fans. Yes, yes I hear you - isn't Brazil playing the World Cup Final against Spain in Rio de Janeiro next year going to be just like that? Not quite, here is how the Boxing Day Test comes into its own. It's all down to its magnificent and fortuitous timing. It's Boxing Day, it's a national holiday, it's Christmas time, and everybody, and I mean everybody is in the mood to party. And what better place to do it.