Author: biggingeradventures

Will add more to the below but here are my initial stats and thoughts…

162 days

115 blog posts
104 people had the pleasure of my company on my main tours (not counting the additional day trips)
71 different hotels
59 bus/van rides
54 different towns & cities
22 boat rides
19 flights
13 countries
5 overnight buses
A lot of massages
and too many taxi rides to count!

Favourite countries: Thailand and Bali

Country you want to go back to: Argentina

5 top highlights of the trip: Machu Picchu, Iguassu Falls, snorkelling in the Philippines, seeing Angkor Wat and Bali in general.

What makes you smile the most: making so many new friends that I want to stay in touch with.

Most disappointing country: Vietnam

Most expensive countires: Chile, Uruguay and Cambodia

Worst day: elephant sanctuary

Best hotel: Au Lac Charner Hotel, Vietnam

Best tour: South America one, as it was the longest, we did a lot more and I was with the people a lot longer.

Worst tour: Vietnam, bad hotels, and lack of included activities

5 top things I packed: bum bag, lanyard for phone, water case for phone, washing line, shampoo bar.

When you visit the temples in Angkor, you need a pass. The one they buy as standard for the G-Adventure tour is a 3 day one. We used 2 of them for our temple trips, which meant I had one more day to use on my own.

I wanted to go back to Angkor Wat to walk over the bridge and see the iconic view from the front entrance. When we were here for the sunrise, we did walk over this and through, but it was pitch black and very busy at the time. We left via a different entrance, so I never got the picture I wanted. I did today, though!

The other thing I wanted to do was the Angkor balloon. This helium balloons goes up 120 metres and is said to give you an amazing view of the Angkor Wat complex. I originally got the tuk tuk directly here at 2.30pm, but it was deemed too windy to fly. I waited till 3pm and then walked to the temple. When I was about ready to leave the temple, I saw the balloon up in the air, so I decided to try again! Lucky for me it did go up this time. Was only a 10 minute ride but amazing views and only alittle bit rocky, but with the netting and hand rails, I felt pretty safe.

Today, I went on a tour to see the Kulen waterfall, I organised it through the hotel, but I wasn’t sure that to except. It was a really nice group of people and the tour guide pip was very funny. 

Pip stopped and brought us some bananas to try. The little ones are actually called chicken egg bananas! They were sweeter than the orange ones.

We then stopped at the 1000 Linga stream. A linga is a Hindu symbol that presents both the male and female parts. He pool at the end is supposed to be holy water. We all made sure we put some on our heads lol.

The next stop was the reclining budda on the mountain. Got to ring the dong 3 times as well!

The last stop was the waterfall! It was beautiful and cold! The little fish kept nipping, though, and taking too much interest in my million mosquito bites, so I didn’t stay in very long!

When we were on the jungle trek the other day, one of the guys mentioned the spiders, and I choose to not look. However, today, I saw what they were talking about, and OMG, they are blood huge! The photo doesn’t do it justice , it’s bigger than my palm!

As mentioned previously, I pledged a day to help at the New Hope school. They break the day into 2 parts, they have a class in the morning 8- 11.30am and then a different class for another set of students 2-5pm.

With the first class, it was their very first day, and they were given a new backpack each, and the kids would wear it even at playtime. Very cute! We sang the ABC song and wheels on the bus.

At the break times, the kids wanted to be lifted and spun around, I was exhausted by the time it was home time. I’m glad I did it though, one of the highlights for me was making one special boy smile! The teacher mentioned to me that she was worried about him and that he might be suffering from neglect. She said he hadn’t smiled all week. By showing him a bit or attention, he smiled, laughed, and I even got a hug at the end!

I left the tour today as the rest of the group drive to Bangkok, but I’d plan to stay in Cambodia.

I’d moved to my last hotel of the trip – Memoire D ‘Angkor Boutique Hotel. Lovely 5 star hotel, pool, spa, big bath in the room and of course room service!

Another day and another two temples in Angkor! The first one was Preah khan, which we had another mini jungle trek to enter through the South gate.

The second temple was East Mebon, this one had eight elephant statues.

We were offered a third temple, but I was out voted by the people on the tour, which is a shame. Though super hot and humid, I really loved the temples we saw over the last couple of says.

Angkor Eye

With the free afternoon, Sandie and I decided to check out the Angkor eye, basically a big ferris wheel. The sign promised views of the Angkor wat complex, but sadly, that was very untrue! Was still lovely views and thankfully air-conditioned. We were the only ones on there!

After the ride, we went to the spa, and it was actually Sandie’s first massage. I opted for the 4 hand massage! Which is 2 people at the same time. Was the most relaxing massage I’ve had as normally my brain will focus on what part of my body they are working on, and I have to work to relax. However, as too much was happening at once, I was able to relax properly. I’d definitely have that again.

New Hope community project

As I’ve mentioned previously with G-Adventures, they have charity projects that they support around the world. Tonight for dinner, we had lady tuk tuk drivers to take us to the restaurant. We were given a lotus when we got in the back.

The restaurant raises funds for the school that is attached. The school has kids from 3-5 years old, they also do English lessons and provide clean, safe water for the local community. I have given my details to volunteer for a day while i’m in Siem Reap.

Today was an early start as we left our hotel at 4.30 am to go to Angkor Wat for the sunrise! First, we had to get our passes, which included having a photo taken. This pass gives me access for 3 days. We will use 2 on the tour, and then I will be able to go back 1 more time afterwards.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is considered the largest religious structure in the world and is the symbol of Cambodia and featured on their flag. It was also one of the places I was most excited about visiting, and I wasn’t disappointed!

We walked into the complex in pitch black, so it was unclear we were walking over a bridge and what buildings we walked through. We found our spot by the lake and then waited an hour and a half! I took a lot of photos and videos and put them together in a reel on insta. Here are a couple of the photos…

We agreed it looked like a troll popping his head up next to the palm tree.

After a breakfast box, we explored the temple, and there are a lot of steps!!

Angkor thom

The next stop was through the South gate of Angkor Thom. Along the bridge, they have statues on each side of gods and demons, carrying the body of seven-headed naga. The top of the gate has 4 heads, which is the same design as the Bayon temple.

Bayon Temple

This temple was full of detailed cravings and the smiling budda heads.

The elephants terrace

Just a short walk from Bayon is the elephants terrace. They were preparing for a show that is happening this week. We only visited part of this terrace, but it is a lot bigger than I imagined. We saw more of it from the bus on the way to the next temple.

Ta prohm Temple

Last temple for today, and it is Ta prohm, which was made famous from the 2001 Tomb Raider film with Angelina Jolie. As you will see from the photos, the trees have taken over here a bit. We walked into the temple via the jungle trek path.

Really enjoyed the temples today. There were 3 very different types and got some great photos! When we got back, I clearly had a nap after being up at 4am and a trip to Pub Street in the evening.

Today, we left the capital Phnom Penh and headed for Siem Reap, home of the famous Angkor Wat.

We stopped a couple of times along the way and shared the bus with the other G-Adventure group and their Cambodia CEO (mine was Thai).

Facts about Cambodia:

• He mentioned that 95% of Cambodia are Buddhist, but only 16% follow it properly. You can choose the length of time you want to be a monk, unlike Vietnam when it’s for life. Parents want their children to be a monk, they have to pay for the privilege, but it is believed the child will them pay back with all the good things they do as a monk as it will affect the preparations for the parents in the next life.
• Another big problem they have had in Cambodia is HIV. He mentioned that it is believed that the UN was responsible for being over the disease prior to 1993 when 2.7% of the country was diagnosed with HIV. The numbers today are now at 0.7%.
• Like most Asian countries, women were traditionally kept at home, but they are seeing this change now with more women being educated and working.
• Divorce is less than 1%. However, this does mean that they had a lot of domestic violence.
• Life expectancy is now 70, but it was 57, only 20 years ago

One of our stops was the Koh Chan Village, which is a Chinese Community Island village. Here, they create silver, cooper and bass bowls, plates, and more. The men tend to shape the metal, and then women carve and decorate.

Another stop was to try palm fruit. The fruit comes from the female palm tree. It didn’t really taste that nice or overly sweet. I think it had the texture of mushrooms, but a strange sweet taste. I found out later that it wasn’t ripe enough as it should have been sweet. The other thing we tired was the centre of the Palm fruit, which looks like a jelly, doesn’t really taste of anything. It’s not sweet. We didn’t see the flower but was told it could make 1-2 litres of juice. It is this juice that when dried makes Palm sugar.

The second to last stop was to try bug! They had so many, and I tired silk worm, didn’t taste too bad, they have a sweet taste. They had children walking around with live Tarantulas, which, as you can imagine, scared the crappie out of me, and I was back on the bus first!

Then it was time for lunch, with no liking coconut. I am unable to try a lot of the famous dishes. This was popular for baked fish paste.. so that’s what I tried. It was ok. I won’t be ordering it again, lol

We finally arrived at Siem Reap and in the evening walked to Pub Street! Siem Reap definitely gives me Chaing Mai vibes, though more expensive!

After the killing fields and prison in the morning, it was definitely time for a beer with lunch! Well two actually as they were 50USD cent each!

Must admit I am surprised how expensive Cambodia is! As they favour US dollars here, the prices seem slightly crazy compared to Thailand and Vietnam. It’s easily 3 times the price of Vietnam, more for some things!

Royal Palace

With our free time in the afternoon, Sandie and I decided to do the royal palace. As the king still lives here, there were only certain areas you could go in, and they were renovating a statue while we were there.

It was then a dash back to the hotel to get changed for the sunset cruise. I stupidly took us to the wrong place as it mentioned this very nice hotel in the description so we went there. However, it was behind the hotel, and due to loads of construction work, it meant a stressful 15-minute walk as I made us late and boat kept calling. When we arrived we realised the boat was only for G-Adventures and the other group forgave us for being late!

Was pretty cool the bridge was lit up with the Cambodian flag!

To end the evening, we went for dinner and cocktails with the guys from the boat!

Today was a difficult day, when visiting a country its important to understand the history but when that history is mass genocide of millions of people and less than 45 years go, it does make you wonder why and how cruel people can really be. Seeing the photos in Vietnam of the American soldiers murdering and torturing innocent Vietnamese people was one thing, but to see and hear about a country killing their own and for no good reason was just madness.

The one responsible for this tragedy was Pol Pott. He came from a wealthy family, and his grandfather worked in the Royal Palace. His sisters became the royal concubines, and his brothers worked at the Palace, too. He wasn’t the most academic, and after high school, he changed to a blacksmith as he failed exams,  He also became a buddist monk. However, in Cambodia, this is not for life, and you can become a monk for as little as a month. He managed to get a scholarship to France through his royal connections, and in 1952, he joined the communist party in France, and it’s here that he started to become a political activist. It is hard to believe Pol Pots was a former Buddhist monk and then a history teacher at private school and before becoming a mass murder.

In 1965, the King, Norodom Sihanoukut, cut all ties with the US and aligned with North Vietnam. This led to Americans bombing in Cambodia and set the path in motion for Pol Pott, leader of Khmer Rouge’s regime, and became prime minister.

Khmer Rouge’s regime targeted educated people. Health care, doctors, teachers, and only agricultural workers survived. They killed whole families due to the parents being educated. Take the weed out by the roots. They were worried that educated people would cause an uprising.

There were 7 million people in the whole country, between 1975 and 1979, 1.7 million were killed, 1 million more died from starvation, and a large number were missing. As of 1980, there were only 4 million people left in the country! Now 44 years on, the population of Cambodia is 17 million, with the youngest average age in the world.

Our guide had times when he got emotional, as this history and his life were very real to him. He told us he lost 5 of his siblings to starvation and being overworked at the time. He himself had to work in the fields as a human scarecrow at the age of 6.

Killing fields

The first stop today was the Choeung Ek killing fields, which was only 1 of 383 across the whole of Cambodia. It was estimated that 20,000 people were killed at this site

In 1979, they found 129 mass graves in this area. Only 86 mass graves were exhumed. 8985 remains were found in those 86 graves. There was no way of identification, as the lists of names they would have taken at the time were destroyed.

There are photos of the Sleng Potion tree. Looks like lime green, and when ripe, it’s orange. They have 4 seeds inside. 1 seed will kill a person, but when used in small amounts, it can be medicine, and even our guide said he used it when he was younger.

I was surprised to learn that they had children solider in the regime as young as 10 and they were made to kill people. They were told they could only keep themselves alive and not even help their family. To keep them in fear, any soliders that disobeyed had their heads cut off, and there was a special mass grave for them.

They worked to keep these killing fields secret as long as possible with music to cover screams, lime go cover smells, and transported victims from the prison to the fields in the night.

1986, the government built a memorial stupa to remember the dead and keep the bones collected from the exhumed graves.

S21 Tuol Sleng Genocide Prison Museum

The next stop was nearby and was a high school that had been turned into a prison. This is where the majority of the victims would have been tortured to provide friends, family, and co-workers to be rounded up before they were sent to the killing fields to meet their end.

This was 1 of 196 prisons all over Cambodia.

The prison was broken into 4 main areas:

• Block A & B were for VIP. These cells were 5x3m. The metal bullet containers were their toilet. And was only emptied ever 2 weeks and if they spilt it they had to clean it with their tongue as punishment.
  When the prison was liberated, they found 14 bodies in the VIP cells. There are 14 empty tombs outside in the garden as monuments to them.

• Block C bottom floor were the mens cells. These old classrooms created 11 cells. 1m in length. The prisoners would sleep on the floor, separated by brick walls. They were locked in the cell by their ankles.

• Block C upstairs were the women’s cells. Women weren’t chained in the cells, but the cell doors were locked. They were made of wood.

• Block C top floor was the mass detention room where prisoners were kept when they first arrived. There could be 30-60 people in the room and chained to a wooden log.

When the prison was liberated, 7 surviors were found at the prison. They were kept alive as they were deemed useful to the prison and regime. There was 1 guard as well (not in the photo).

Two of these surviors were at the prison while we were there. The third from right, he’s 88 now, and he was an artist and the one on the left of the photo talked to us about his time, he had to lick the floor when he spilled his urine. He was selling a book. 50% of profits go to him and his family and the other 50% to the other victims’ families. I gave them money but didn’t take the book.

There were photos, hundreds of them. The ones without numbers are actually guards, and as you can see, they were pretty young! The ones with numbers were prisoners. They have these photos as negatives were found at the prison, but not many of the records remained. Our guide told us that the week before our visit, a gentleman came to the prisoknto remember his family as his brother was still classed as missing, and he found his photo on the wall!

The newspaper article was before the regime, and the person cut out on the right side is the king!

The government decided in 1991 to bring peace to the country they only target and prosecute the leaders and senior members of the Khmer Rouge. With everyone else, they would not be indicted. Our guide mentioned that anyone over 53 years old could have been a soldier. Local people know who they are but choose to live in peace. He said they do not forget or forgive.

Our guide also said a lot of what we have seen and heard is illegal, and most people don’t fully understand their own history. They want us to tell their story so people know what happened here.