The darker side of Cambodia

My final day in Siem Reap saw me attending a cooking class. Held at a local restaurant in Dam Watt area of town I spent the morning in a kitchen with an American girl and three Cambodian chefs cooking up a storm. With limited English (mostly pointing and gestures from all) we learnt to make a traditional eggplant dip, chicken curry, fish amok (my new favourite food) and mango sticky rice. Followed by an absolute feast! I can't wait to have a practice when I get to Aus. I do miss cooking.


That afternoon I went to a local village with two friends from my hostel. We ate snake at the roadside and spoke to the local children. These are the days I absolutely love, away from the tourist hype. The evening saw my first experience of a night bus(!). Well I learnt a few lessons there; having booked the most expensive bus I arrived to a basic, sweaty bus where you are laid on a double bed next to a complete stranger in a 5ft long bed. Fair to say they're not made for westerners! Thanks to a few beers I managed to sleep for several hours until we broke down on the road side and had to wait for a replacement. But finally I arrived, tired but unscathed.

After a bit of trouble with hostels I was checked in and in a tuk tuk to the killing fields. In retrospect doing this when already tired and a tad emotional was a terrible idea. But WOW what an eye opening day. Everyone has heard of Auschwitz but I felt genuinely shocked I knew so little about such a mass killing. 1/4 of the population was murdered, with those leading the Khmer rouge regime targeting those who are educated. I listened to tales of murdering babies against a 'killing tree' and saw hundreds of bones displayed to help us remember the dead. Intense! So naturally I decided to follow this with a journey to s21, where I learnt about the torture endured by those who were made to write false confessions in order to survive a day or two longer, and read tales of women and men forced into marriages. Someone made an interesting comment how the majority of the population here are under 30, and nearly half of those will have come from a forced marriage.

I hope this can become more widely taught in English schools as it really did highlight how ignorant we are to this. I have such a respect for the Cambodian people after learning about how they suffered whilst the rest of the world was completely unaware.

Pub street in Siem Reap

Currently sitting having breakfast in a little French cafe I can certainly say the French influence in Siem Reap is one of my favourite aspects. Freshly baked bread available in little bakeries and at the road side sold at the hawker stalls.
When I first arrived in Siem Reap I wondered if I was even still in Asia! Bars, western food and white tourists (something I haven't seen a lot of in Malaysia for sure!) Filled the streets and it's a sure fact that Angkor Watt has brought the tourist trade to Cambodia!

On my first full day I went on a tour to Angkor Watt. Alongside a group of solo travellers we explored just a handful of the impressive temples built hundreds of years ago. It's impressive to think that so long ago the locals were building these giant intricately designed temples with no technology. Our guide told us the stories of the temples and their carvings, alongside frequent clips from tomb raider where many of the films featured. Finished with watching the sunset from the top of the 'mountain'. It was certainly an exhausting day in the sun but I'm so glad I went! When I arrived home I went to the hostel bar to chat to the other guests. I would 100% recommend downtown hostel to anyone. The friendliest staff and an atmosphere where they ensure everyone is included in the night out! With the owner taking us all to a local nightclub before heading into reggae bars down pub street. The evening ended at a bar cart in the streets where they serve drinks and have ports to play your own music. Like a private party in the streets!

Exhausted from the night before (I got up at 1!!!) I spent the following day at a lake with two new friends. There were little floating huts on a jetty where you can rent hammocks for $1 and we swam in the lake in dingies. This place was my highlight of Cambodia so far! Not a tourist or English breakfast in sight! It reminded me of what I loved about Malaysia. That night I went to the Phare circus, to watch an amazing production that told the story of a child affected by the Khmer Rouge. It was so emotional! With the dancing, acrobatics, music and an artist who painted throughout to represent the story.

Fair to say my first impressions of Siem Reap were definitely wrong. I'm just learning that in some places you need to look a little harder for the good parts...

Malaysia on a moped

I have been absolutely useless at updating my blog.  But I suppose it's a good sign I've been too busy living life to write about it. 

It's my third day in Cambodia so figured I'd best write about my time in Malaysia. 

After Penang I headed to a little island called Langkawi. After the bustle (and wild nights) of Penang it took a bit of adapting to the calm peaceful geoforests and empty beaches. Langkawi was like a little island paradise. Monkeys wandered down the streets of their own accord and there was beautiful waterfalls with no tourists around. On my first day on Langkawi I rented a scooter again and set off around the island. I went up the cable car onto the geoforest, then visited seven wells waterfall. On my way home I stumbled upon the most amazing night market! With clothes, gifts, satay chicken, coconut rice deserts, noodles, fried bananas and all manners of street food you can imagine!  It was my find on Langkawi and the sort of night market I'd hoped for when I planned my travels. 

 

On the following day I set off on my little moped again to the jetty and went on an island hopping tour. During our tour we went to 3 different islands. The pregnant mother island (see the shape of the mountains) where I swam in the lake, an island with a beautiful beaches and another island where we fed wild eagles over the sea! After that I set off on search of the hot springs and another waterfall where I watched local children swimming in the pools. At the hot springs I went to watch a show about the story of the hot springs and got dragged up as an extra dancer in the show! Anyone who has seen me dance can imagine how much they regretted that choice of participant!

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My final day in Langkawi was spent at a beautiful beach at the north of the island. I was the only one there! I swam in the sea and watched the fishing boats on the ocean. I had one of those moments where I just laid back and thought just how lucky I am! It feels a bit like emotions are all intensified over here! I was sad to leave Malaysia and when I first arrived in Siem Reap I was wondering why on earth I had. But after seeing the real Cambodia today with new friends I now love it here!

Penang

My first two days in Penang have been pretty amazing. Last night I went into a bar on my own for the first time in my life and it wasn't as terrifying as I first thought. I sat in a great little reggae bar with the generous owner (free drinks all night) an English guy called Justin, an American scuba instructor, a french boy and a Dutch couple and had a really fun (if random) night.

Today I took myself for breakfast to the special famous roti canai hawker stall at the recommendation of my taxi driver, and it was amazing!! Then I ended up wandering into a Chinese market. I've never seen anything like it! Live crabs and chickens in cages, people butchering meat and fish on the streets and street food, fruit, vegetables and gifts being sold on hundreds of stalls!


Late morning I had to change hotels and then rented a moped with my new friend from last night. We set off in search of Batu Ferringhi beach. We ended up driving straight past it!  It instead found this beautiful little cove beach where we swam. Then we drove into the mountains and came across an amazing waterfall which we climbed to the top of and were able to swim in the icy cold pools. It was paradise on a boiling hot day with the view over the island. After that we bought bananas from a local fruit market, fed their monkeys and set off in search of snake temple. Snake temple is an old temple with venomous snakes roaming free! They were even on the tops of picture frames. The day was polished off with an Indian feast for 12 ringits (about £2). The food here will never get old!!

First stop Melaka!

After a wonderful first two days/ nights with my Mum's friends Hansa and Sukhi it's time to move onto Penang today. Melaka has absolutely blown me away with how much new and old are combined and how readily available (and cheap) tasty food is. Safe to say I'm in my element! We've eaten Japanese, south Indian and Chinese and every single meal has been delicious. For a decent hawker street food meal it's 5 ringits (less than £1)- safe to say I won't be coming home thin!! 

Last night we did a river cruise through Melaka which was beautiful. I'm excited to move onto Penang today and see what lays in store there. 

A week of goodbyes

Writing my first post on my way home from a surreal couple of nights in London saying goodbye to friends. 5 nights out in a row and already I'm starting to question my ability to party like I'd planned to on my travels. Maybe a chilled few weeks of sightseeing and exploring may be better suited to me after all. I forget I'm 26 til I'm hungover on a train craving veggies and a night in watching apprentice with the family. I'm still just pretending I'm not going, I'll save all of the tears for Sunday.