Good Morning Vietnam . . .

 Well this is where i woke up . . Vietnam!!!

First impressions are WOW . . literally not what i was expecting at all. The contrasts between Cambodia and Vietnam are slightly crazy. Vietnam is soo vast compared to any pictures i had in my head, and this has made me kind of excited to explore.

Indoor market

First stop Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), we stayed with our new friends we met on the bus at a really nice place called Spring House Hotel, right in the middle of Backpacker central. On our first day we bumped into the 3 guys from Texas and went to lunch and then to the local market. The boys had just purchased 3 motor bikes and were planning to ride up Vietnam for the next month (sooo jealous, but my mother would kill me i think!!)

In the evening we went with Jenna and found a really cool roof top bar high above the city and just watched the world go by. Saigon is soo much cleaner compared to Phnom Pehn the Capital of Cambodia.

Groupies

Next morning we braved the local buses with help of some very polite and patient Vietnamesse people (who ever it was that told us they were rude were soo wrong, the people here have been nothing but nice and friendly and much less persistent) We managed to make our way to Saigon airport where my cousin Raf arrived to join us for the rest of our adventure in Asia!! =D

Once we got him back and settled we met the rest of our little gang and went off exploring more of the city. It really is a great city!!!

Braving the roads

In the evening we got yet another sleeper bus and headed to the central coast of Vietnam, a place called Nha Trang, with Jenna in tow too!

And that is where i am now people so you are all up to date!! (am trying to upload pics but Vietnam have banned Facebook!!) haha!!!

Cambodia - Just 1 in a million . . .

 Well hello everyone!!

Hope you are all well? I know it has been a week but i have been majorly busy sorry!

I last left you just as we arrived in Sihanoukville . . . things have only got better since my amigos! =D

Sihanoukville is like peace on earth, it is soo tranquil and not very touristic (yet - this is all due to change as there are at least 4 or 5 large hotels being built) The accomodation we stayed at in Monkey Republic was nice. We had our own bamboo bungalow in the middle of a little Banana tree forest, so pretty all lit up at night by fairylights. We were a 5minute walk from a beach called Serendipity, which is a lovely beach but you get rather harasssed by ladies trying to give massages and children selling braclets etc. But thats the price you pay for witnessing the most magnificent views i guess!?

Otres Beach from the rocks

We bumped into a group of girls who we had previously met in Siem Reap and they told us that they had been to a beach, about 10mins away by tuktuk that was worth it. So next day we headed to the beach they recommended, this was called Otres beach. I kid you not people we pulled up in our tuk tuk in this little forest area and were slightly confused. The driver told us to go down these steps next to the rocks and as we did we were literally gob smacked. For miles infront of us was the most amazing, white sands and turqouise blue seas, it was literally like walking into the front of a post card. There was a small handful of people spread out across the beach. So we picked our spot and enjoyed the peace and tranquility. It was like there was no one else there. Soooo nice!

Any hooo, going back to Serendipity, one side of the beach is lined with little bamboo cafes/restaurants and bars. We were told to go down there in the evening and try a bbq on the beach so we did as we were told and we were not disappointed. For $3 each we had the most delicious BBQ, you can have any choice of chicken, pork, snapper fish, lobster (the list is endless) with chips or rice, a massive salad and homemade garlic bread. It was sooo yummy and all for like 2 quiud, even better! haha!

UV Party @ JJ's

We explored the night life in Sihanoukville too, it's definatley a place to party. One place we really loved was called JJ'S playground, a bar on the beach. They mirrored Thailand's famous Full Moon Party on 23rd September, it was a great warmup for the real thing next month! I'm still finding UV paint all over my stuff now! The 2 guys and their stuff (3 guys from Texas who were a right laugh) who run the place are all great and we had more than one night dancing the night away there and on the beach.

First experience on a sleeper bus!

All in all we spent 5 nights and 6 days in Sihanoukville, it was relaxing and nice to just explore the place. So we borded our bus at 8pm on Sunday 26th September and we met a new group of people heading on the same route as us. Jenna from New Zealand and Beni & Cecil from Germany. It was quite exciting knowing that I was going to sleep in one country and would wake in another . . . .  . But Cambodia would be greatly missed and has set a high standard!!!

Cambodia soo far . . .

Temple in Tomb Raider

Sorry it's been a while people, i have been busy busy busy!!

So turns out the first stop in Cambodia was AMAZING so our 2 nights and 3 days turned into 5 nights and 6 days, Siem Reap was great, full of character and very colourful!

Angkor Wat

We spent an entire day exploring all the temples and the main one Angkor Wat, they are all stunning pieces of architecture and none are exactly the same which is an achievement in itself, because we were told that in all there are 10,000 temples! (we did not get to see them all unfortunately) We also got to see the Temple which they used in Tomb Raider so all you Jolie fans, look out for the pictures!! Also, had a classic Nina moment, where i locked the keys for my padlock inside my bag and had  NO access to any of my stuff, so i had to hitch a ride on the back of a police mans motorbike to some place who smashed the lock for me. As the day continued i had to explain to everyone that i was not in trouble with the police, as they were helping me! opps!!

Siem Reap has a focal point, 2 roads that run parallel, Pub Street and the Alley. The Alley, as stated in the name is a wide alley way full off restaurants, you could easily mistake it for a little road somewhere in a French village, it was picture perfect and the food was great too. We tried some traditional Cambodian (Khmer) dishes, including jasmine rice, chicken luc lac and pumpkin cake, which is pumpkin parceled in banana leaves and steamed, absolutely delicious! Pub Street also says it all as it is a street full of bars and 'pubs' it has a nice atmosphere and is a good place to meet people, its no Malia so don't worry people! But you can get a nice draft beer for 30p!!! =D (Yess i have turned into a beer drinker!! damn it being soo cheap!)

Tuk Tuk

Weather has been amazing and we found ourselves with a day free before we left so we decided to go and raid a 5 star hotel with one of our new friends from Canada, we used the pool for the day and the spa which was nice and relaxing!

Victims mugshots in S21

So Monday 20th (i think) we left Siem Reap and made our way down to Phnom Phen, the Capital. The 6 hour bus journey went rather fast considering! We arrived in the afternoon and already had an instant dislike for the place so decided to cut our 2 nights to 1 night straight away. The city is packed and really polluted, this mixed with the heat makes it unbearable and hard to breath! So we got some accommodation and set about booking a ticket straight out of there! Next morning we went to S-21 and the Killing fields and learn't all about the genocide under the reign of Palpot. It was really eerie and upsetting and the worst part was that it didn't really happen that long ago, it was in the last 50 years!!





After a good half a day, we got our bus to Sihanouk ville, 4 hours later and we were there. We are staying in a place called Monkey Republic, its a cool place run by 4 guys from Cambridge (they have Heinz baked beans!) Its cool and got a relaxing vibe, full of travellers so i best get back there and start mingling!!


Ciao bella people x

Hong Kong . . .

Victoria Harbour by day

Bar Street on Hong Kong Island

So we finally arrived in Hong Kong and the only word i have to describe it is 'mental' its such a crazy busy place, but at the same time its amazing with its grandness and all the colours and lights!!

We finally got to meet up with my lovely friend Fiona from uni, who is from Hk, she took us under her wing (we were a bit overwhelmed on the first day) and showed us around the city, she also took us for some amazing food!!

Fi, Me & Claire

We visited the Hong Kong culture centre and  the Avenue of stars (got a classy pic of me with my hands in Jackie Chan's prints) did a bit of shopping too as i just could not resist!! One of the highlights of the city was taking the star Ferry at night across Victoria Harbour, it was absolutely beautiful seeing the city lit up at night in all its greatness. Due to disaster with flight and jet lag we did not get time to do much else as we only had a day and a half, but i would like to go back and explore some more. ( watch out Fi!!!!)

Victoria Harbour by Night

Yesterday we flew from HK to Bangkok and then from Bangkok we boarded a bus and made the longest and most tiring journey to the Cambodia border at Aranya Prathet in Northern Thailand, Northern Thailand is very remote and filled with small little villages.
 Due to a delay on the bus and some flooding from the rain in the north we arrived too late to cross the boarder so being the only travellers on the bus in the dark we had to find somewhere to stay . . . a tuktuk driver to took us to a guest house which was not the nicest of places but was going to have to do for the 1 night, i don't think either of us really slept that well!! So we got up bright and early and made our way to the border, about 10mins up the road and also managed to tell two lots of touts to bugger off with their over priced visas. At the border we endured the queues and ALL the paper work and finally got into Cambodia. After a further 2hour journey we made it to our destination (just a few hours ago), Siem Reap to a lovely hostel suggested by our guide book called Golden Temple Villa which is where im currently updating you all from.

Thank you for reading, i'm off to explore and enjoy so i have some more to update you with! x x x

False Start . . .

Sooo . . . the adventure began on Friday 10th September at Heathrow Airport, we said goodbye to our families and headed through to departures, just as we had been through the final security check we noticed our flight had been delayed by 2hrs! =(
An announcement for all passengers on our flight to come to the customer service desk was made so we dragged our heels over there and received a pleasant surprise . .  Cathay Pacific were giving all passengers a 20pound meal voucher to use at any of the eateries in the terminal, so me and Claire being us headed straight for the most expensive, Chez Gerard, where we enjoyed a nice meal, unknown to us, the worst was still to come . .  We noticed our flight had been put back for a further 2hrs, but finally at midnight we got to board the plane and finally set off on our journey, or so we thought!!

45mins into the flight the captain made an announcement . . . "We are currently over the ocean and are experiencing a few technical problems as our back engine has failed . . " At this point i started to freak out as i assumed his next words were going to be something along the words of . . 'we need to do an emergency landing in the sea' (which by the way is my WORST NIGHTMARE!!! However, lucky for us my assumption was wrong as he said " . . . we need to turn around and return to Heathrow to have the problem fixed." THANK GOD!!! =D

45mins later plus the tank of fuel they needed to get rid of we landed back at Heathrow, to be told the problem was not a simple one, so off we trotted out of Heathrow at 5am in the morning to a 150 pound a night hotel. At 8am we went down and met the representatives from Cathay Pacific, who told us the aircraft is unrepairable and after queuing for a few hours to try and be put onto a new flight they finally announced that a whole new plane was being sent to take us, so FINALLY at 3pm on Saturday 11th September we got to leave the UK and make our way to Hong Kong, wooohooooo!!!! =D