Angkor, What?

So here we are, at the end of one very quick week in Cambodia. During our last post we were approximately halfway down the coast of Vietnam, and what a beautiful coast it is! The beach in Hoi An was my absolute favourite, and we have put photo’s on Facebook, it’s the one with the whitest sand and palm trees, mmm. We spent a lot of time soaking up the sun which was a much needed break from all the hikes and mountain climbs that Scott keeps signing me up for.

I had already began writing our next post in Vietnam, but it got abandoned before it went to press and is now out of date. In it I commented on the notoriety of a beachside town called Nha Trang for its tourist robberies. We had met someone who had her crotch grabbed by two girls, in her confusion to remove their hands they had got into her pockets and took her cash. It was all over the internet also to be especially cautious here. Alas in our cautiousness we left most of our cash back at the hotel but we lost £60 at the hands of a light fingered cleaner. Sods law at its best! We did not discover this until we were a couple towns down the coast from the hotel where we had lost the money, due to the fact that it had been our left over Thai Baht that had been stolen and not our Vietnam Dong. The average wage in Vietnam is about £60 a month, so you can imagine the temptation for someone who sees it lying around, easy for the picking. In fact we had left over £200, so were lucky that only part of it was taken. I’m hoping that it went to someone’s family and kids, if it has then I am more than happy with losing the money. I keep my fingers crossed it’s not been used for drugs and other bad things!

After we had been to a few coastal towns we headed towards Saigon, also known as Ho Chi Minh City, which was slightly different to Hanoi but in a way that is impossible to describe. I loved Saigon and Hanoi, and really seriously would consider moving to Vietnam more permanently. I got to the point where I was looking for English teacher jobs online but Scott bought me back to my senses with the realisation that I have a university place in September! It’s easy to get carried away, I loved Vietnam. In Saigon we had very little time so we spent 1 day fitting in as many sights as possible, the most memorable being the war remenants museum. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a museum where I have actually been engaged from start to finish, the history of the Vietnam war is brutal, and there were plenty of photo’s documenting this. Of course it was very biased towards the USA! In one room labelled ‘war crimes’ I could actually feel a lump in my throat and tears welling up as we were looking around, I felt like a proper loser but this changed when I noticed the girl next to me was in a worse state with tears pouring down her face.

After Saigon we spent 3 days travelling around the Mekong Delta, the most interesting and scenic part of Vietnam, with lots of wooden houses on stilts and people fishing and selling fruits from their boats. The area was full of palm trees, rivers and rice fields and felt so lush and green. We got a boat up the Mekong and after 3 and a half weeks in Vietnam we crossed the border and headed through Cambodia to Phnom Penh.

Cambodia is a beautiful place, described in the lonely planet as having ‘been through hell and back’ and this couldn’t be more true. In Phnom Penh now it’s so hard to imagine the terror that happened only 35 years ago, something I knew hardly anything about before I started this trip. Under Pol Pots Khmer Rouge regime the government killed a quarter of the country’s population, many of whom ended up in mass graves never to be identified. I have become a geek and have started reading books about it all. 


Our first stop in Phnom Penh was the killing fields just outside the city, as we walked through you could see a big glass tower full of skulls and rags of clothes found in the graves. It was hard to imagine that all these skulls were once people and took a lot of getting your head round (no pun intended). As we walked round the fields we would see signs showing where different huts and mass graves were. One of the most shocking was a sign against a tree showing where children had been held by their legs and smashed against the tree to be killed. Most of the people were beaten or stoned as ammunition was too expensive. Children were killed merely for the fact that one day they could grow up and want revenge against the people who had killed their parents. After this we went to the Tuol Sleng prison, which was once a school but turned into a prison to hold enemies of the Khmer Rouge regime, inevitably the majority of these ended up being buried at the killing fields. This was one of the most disturbing places I’ve ever been, with blood stains still on the floor and walls, but most haunting were the mug shots of all those who had passed through the prison. The worst were pictures taken after the person had died. Alas it has caused me to have a couple of nightmares, once when we got to Siem Reap and I woke up with a start, asked Scott to put on the light and discovered that we were in fact in a power cut! I ended up scanning the room with my phone, looking for signs of Pol Pot but thankfully this was fruitless. Despite its past Phnom Penh is a wonderful city none the less, and the people are the friendliest we have met on our travels. The city has been drastically rebuilt and is becoming more and more modern. It will be interesting to come back in 10 years time as I’m sure it is just beginning to develop as a city.

Leaving Phnom Penh we travelled to Siem Reap, where we stayed in the loveliest guesthouse owned by the loveliest family in the world. We saw the awe inspiring Angkor Wat in both the sunrise and sunset (which caused us to be very sleepy) and many other temples. The only thing that troubled us about Angkor Wat was the amount of children around, begging for money sweets and trying to sell post cards. It’s hard to walk away when the child has just been telling you that they want money for school, and it makes you realise how incredibly lucky us in the U.K are with our fantastic education system. In fact in Phnom Penh I ended up giving half of my breakfast to two children who were stood outside the bar watching me eat, as I felt too uncomfortable to eat it in front of them. I know were told not to give out money or food directly to the kids to but charities, but it’s very different when the children are standing right in front of you. Siem Reap has also developed as a city since the Cambodia civil war, and like Phnom Penh is a very nice place to spend time. We were lucky that our guesthouse was right opposite a school so every day we could peak over the fence at the children sitting in their wooden classrooms, chanting in unison. One day they saw Scott and came running over shouting ‘Hello, hello hello’. The teachers probably weren’t so amused.

Angkor At 5:30am

So in summary we have had an incredible couple of weeks. We have had more to think about and learn about the sometimes really saddening history of the countries than at any point on our trip. Without doubt though, Vietnam and Cambodia are the most beautiful places I have been in my life. I am convinced that I will move back here one day! We are now back in Phnom Penh and tomorrow we are flying back to Bangkok to meet my sister and heading south for 3 weeks of beaches and total relaxation before our last week in Malaysia and Singapore before home!

I'm sweating as I'm writing this....

So I feel like we are not as good as posting as I would have suggested before I set off. Alas Hong Kong was our last blog and already we have travelled through Thailand, Laos and into Vietnam, doing so much that inevitably most of it will be missed off from this blog, but i'll try to provide a rounded summary of the best bits.

We took a flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok and wow, we were hit by heat and humidity the second we stepped off the plane. In fact I'm not sure that we have stopped sweating from that point until present day, and its quite funny the fact that the locals walk around in their jeans and jumpers while we're huffing and puffing with the sweatiest top lip known to man, they must think were all eskimos in Europe honestly. Bangkok was exactly how you would imagine it to be, we stayed on Khao San road, for those who have seen The Hangover 2 we have heard that it is featured in that, you can imagine what hit us, and consequently we spent way over our daily budget on pitchers and beers, when we return we really are going to have to stay somewhere else. We also managed to get up close and personal with some ladyboys, not too personal mind, just meeting on the street, but they are one of the main tourist attractions of Bangkok it would seem.

Our next stop was Chiang Mai, which we travelled to on an overnight train, saving money we opted for a fan carriage rather than an aircon, big mistake! We needed our windows down for the breeze and the noise off the train track was immense. At one point in the night I put my head out of the window, only to clock on second by second that a pack of wild dogs had congregated round the train and were looking to transmit rabies, growling at me, I shut the window and fried half to death. In Chiang Mai we embarked on a jungle trek, which was bloody hard work in the humidity, we got to ride elephants on the first day and spent the night with a hill tribe in a little wooden hut. A fantastic experience until I realised the next day I was literally covered in mosquito bites, this and the email from my travel clinic telling me my jabs that cost a total of £160 were ineffective and have had to be recalled, and to get a second jab before I go away (can you believe it, I was already halfway into tropical illness-vile!!) made me worry slightly, but I appear to be fine.

From Chiang Mai we have now joined the famous slow boat crew, cruising along the Mekhong river into Laos taking two days to get to Luang Prabang. I loved every minute, but Scott found it somewhat boring so we have a mixed review. (Scott: I didn't find it boring, I found that after the first hour the view was the same for the next six. Great for that first hour though!)...Big shout out to KC and Chris who kept us company from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang, we will be stalking them round Singapore when we are there at the end of our trip! Luang Prabang was amazing, there was nothing to do but so much to do if that makes sense, chilled was an understatement! Faced with a three day bus journey into the north of Vietnam, we crunched some numbers and decided we didn't want to go through hell (the buses come equipped with sick bags, its no coincidence!) and booked a cheeky flight from Luang Prabang to Hanoi.

Hanoi, wow, what can I say apart from don't even think about crossing the road. Well we started crossing the roads with ease eventually, but the amount of traffic, particularly mopeds was past ridiculous, a massive culture shock to begin with! Our hotel price included a buffet breakfast in the sister hotel 'across the road', sounds simple and its only a matter of meters away, but dear lord, it was a death defying mission to the buffet every morning, if it wasn't so free I doubt we would have risked death, but a free fried egg on toast it would seem is enough of an incentive. In Hanoi we took a boat tour around Halong Bay, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Please google image it, imagine turquoise blue seas and green forested rocky islands. We even slept on the boat, and I have terrible sea sickness, the sea was that smooth I didn't vom once. Scott jumped off the boat for an early morning swim but this came to an abrupt end when those on deck sighted a swarm of jellyfish heading his way. No surprise he dashed to the ladder to escape!

We have since been travelling down the Vietnam coast, and are currently in a town called Hoi An. yesterday we decided to bite the bullet and travel down on motorbikes, having met a lovely guy called John who couldn't recommend it more, and gave us the email of the company he used. It was pretty nerve racking to begin with, especially as I was trying to show no fear as I climbed on, and we flew off on our first ever motorbiking experience. Wow is all I can say, the scenery was amazing and being on the bike was more enjoyable than I ever could have imagined, we stopped at places we never could of seen on the way by bus and had two lovely drivers who taught as all about Vietnam. I have decided that it was the best day of my life, Scott maintains that his sisters wedding day remains on top, but it came pretty close!

We hope all is going well at home, out air con is set on 20 degrees as a welcome break from the hot heat outside, we suspect our aircon is warmer than the temperature at home, not that we're rubbing it in or anything!!

Lots of Love

Kate and Scott xxxx

Easyrider Rentell

An unfortunate sign in the window of the Creative Oriental Crafts Kingdom (Hanoi)

Lads on Tour in Halong Bay

4 weeks in 1 post

So here we have the third post on our blog. Due to China's shall we say difficult internet regulations, apparantly websites with 'blog' in the title are also banned along with facebook. Therefore we have found it difficult doing our next post, although we have done so much and been so busy in the last four weeks. We have completed our trip around China and have now made it to Hong Kong. Our China itinerary for those interested (google image the places!) was:

Shanghai
Hangzhou
Tunxi (Including Huangshan Mountain)
Suzhou
Kunming
Lijiang (Including Tiger Leaping Gorge)
Dali
Guilin
Yangshou

Where to start with the highlights...

Our last post mentioned that we were just about to climb Huangshan, and that we most definitely did, and in quite an impressive time. Due to setting off at 4:30am we had made the peak by 10am. We had the choice between an easier but less scenic route and a harder more scenic route, so being suckers for pain we chose the latter. This was like an intense gym work out, after climbing for the first bit much to my dismay we then made it to the entrance with a sign that said "if you are finding this difficult now turn back". I was already covered in sweat and said to Scott I had better go back, but he was having none of it. We managed to take in some breathtaking views on the way up to the peak but once we'd climbed above the cloud all that could be seen was a white mist. We looked absolute states by about halfway up, but continued to be asked by our fellow Chinese climbers for photo's with us (a recurring theme on the trip, especially for Scott as he is blonde) so there are going to be hideous photo's in a few people's albums!!

After our epic climb we boarded a supposed 6 hour bus to Suzhou (The Venice of the East, cough cough) Though bus drivers in China have the habit of driving round the town or city they are leaving from, shouting from the windows to pick up customers and not leaving until they have a full bus, hence adding about 2 hours onto your trip. We had read that Suzhou was famous for its gardens, and thats all there was really. After doing some date crunching we worked out that in order to hike Tiger Leaping Gorge we would have to fly to Yunnan province as trains would take a few days. SO we got a last minute flight from Shanghai and flew into Kunming. A lovely leafy laid back city where we made the terrible error of visiting the zoo. The animals were literally chained to their dirty cages and Scott was almost in tears when we saw inside the reptile cages were living mice and cute bunny rabbits, ready to be eaten for dinner by the fat snakes. The Chinese visitors seemed to take pleasure in throwing rubbish into the 'Monkey Mountain' where the mammals hanged out. It was a state. No care at all. The zoo signs for elephants and zebras went unrewarding, as most of he cages were empty, lucky for the animals who had moved out!

After an overnight train from Kunming to Lijiang we woke up to blue skies surrounded by picturesque mountains. The town was pretty with lots of yummy street food and a hippy vibe to it. This was our base for heading out to Tiger Leaping Gorge for our two day trek. It was incredibly hard work for me, though Scott seemed to enjoy it! You will see our pictures on facebook of how close we were walking to the cliff edge, and how steep the climbs were. 2 hours into our first day I uttered the words no boyfriend really wants to hear 'Scott, the bottom of my trainers has fallen off'. It would appear that my nikes couldn't handle the gorge either and both the soles of my shoes were left behind on the climb, making for a very interesting and slippy walk back down the other side! Towards the end of the first day Scott then got his revenge with the words that no girlfriend wants to hear 'FUCKING HELL THERE IS A HUGE SNAKE'. This made me unable to breathe normally for a good three minutes, and we had to jog past the side of the path where the snake was. We had no idea what kind it was, though it was yellow and black so probably extremely deadly! Shortly after this I then tripped over an errand tree root and slashed my knee, so we walked into our guesthouse on the gorge for the night looking like we'd definitely been in the wars. That night we stayed with most of the people we'd met and spoke to on our trek as we watched it go from day to night and the sky pack out with stars. (While Scott was doing this I was nursing my wounds with an antiseptic swab).

From the Gorge we then head onto Dali which was similar to Lijiang and a lovely resting spot seen as we both decided to get upset stomachs for a couple of days (potentially something to do with the street food). We then boarded another night train over to Yangshou and had the most lovely few days in the Chinese countryside, doing biking and kayaking, resting and reading. Our next stop being Hong Kong which is where we are now. The epic difference in prices between China and Hong Kong has definitely hit Scott hard, as he looks painfully everytime he hands over 15 pounds for a meal compared to our usual 3 in China. We have been soaking up the Hong Kong culture where Scott feels incredibly badly dressed compared to all the trendies (not many people were well dressed in China!), we've also been to the beach and had some yummy cocktails, which after barely drinking in China didn't take long to make us feel a bit giddy. Tomorrow we are flying to Bangkok to begin our Thailand leg of the trip, something we are very excited about. We promise to be much better with the blog from now on.

Love Kate and Scott xxxxx

Sounds more like a rat!

So, were currently sat in 30 degree heat in the rooftop bar in our hostel (they are cunning people fortunately and have a way to bypass the great china firewall hence we can blog and facebook). Weve had a well packed 3 days in Shanghai. My flight over was just lovely, I got a complimentary copy of HELLO magazine and a cadbury cream egg, this teamed with a whole host of good t.v made me a happy bunny indeed. The woman next to me kept trumping in her sleep though.

Scott met me at the airport, and this time around I arrived with my bag, much to Scott's amusement I wheeled out my backpack, its too heavy for my back but I couldn't take the wheely thing out of the airport unfortunately. We hit Xiabu Xiabu after hours of Scott searching, the second the sesame paste hit my lips I knew i'd arrived. We then stumbled across 'Mr Big Stomach 2011', with the tagline 'This spring, this city', e.g. a line of chinese people ramming as much pizza into their mouths as possible. One of those moments when you realise you've been awake for 24 hours and wonder what on earth is going on, along with the dancers for entertainment, and the sharks swimming round in a tank in the shop window opposite. Got to love China.

We spent the first morning getting aquainted with the city in the Shanghai museam, by the end of it we were both bored as hell, but more culturally aware (it was free). We have also been up the oriental pearl tower which was beautiful, and we went up as it was going dark so got some lovely views of the Shanghai skyline in the day and night. We did a river boat tour where we paid 10 pounds to get on the boat, was led to the roof to find a big piece of tarmac and a lovely VIP room, airconditioned with seats, with a frickin 3.50 entrance fee! Having a laugh, so we sat down on the tarmac and Scott got the Tsingtao in. Its day 4 in Shanghai and weve managed to fit in 4 Xiabu Xiabu meals, the guy even knows our order off by heart now. Im managing fine with my vegetarian diet, apart from the night I had to order two meals in seperate restaurants after I had to walk out of the other one leaving my meal fully intact as it made me want to vom. We went into the restaurant opposite in the hope they couldn't see us through the window. Scott tried to take me to an actual 'Vegetarian' restaurant but the menu seemed to misinterpret the meaning, offering fried chicken rice and pork. As you can guess we didn't sample the delights on offer.

Today Scott got his geography fix when we visited the Shanghai Urban planning exhibition, which I was actually quite impressed with. The chinese were proper bigging themselves up with how fantastic Shanghai is now it has grown but there was an amazing 3D visual model of Shanghai, the size of a 5 a side football pitch nearly, imagine Scotts face. We also had a little ride in a boat simulation made for kids, we waited for 2 kids to get off it then ran over.

Were off to Hangzhou in the morning tomorrow after our final farewell meal at Xiabu. We have 2 days there before our trek up the mountain begins so a serious amount of rest and relaxation are in order. Straight after this we are going for a 2 pound foot rub, whoop!!

Love to everyone at home,

Kate and Scott xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

P.S in regards to the blog title, we will also be compiling a list of things never to say to your girlfriend when you are travelling. After hearing a scuttling sound during the night above us I joked 'That sounds like a dog', Scott then replied 'That sounds more like a rat'. I then sat bolt up right, had the light on the whole night and spent my time waiting to contract the plague. Luckilly for Scott just after he'd made this statement he fell asleep, apart from the two times I woke him up after I heard scuttling after that (I decided this was a useless activity as I would say 'did you hear that' and he'd say 'yeh' and then fall back to sleep.). Not a good night for me!

1 day...

Hello, Scott here. I thought I had better post an update. Tomorrow Kate will be taking her second visit to China, but this time landing in the Paris of the East, Shanghai. Lonely Planet describes Shanghai as "the most dynamic city in the world's fastest-changing nation... an exhilarating, ever-changing metropolis that isn't just living China's dream, but setting the pace for the rest of the world". It is without doubt the city where East meets West. I have spent the past eight months living in Tianjin on a low teachers wage so have become a professional at tight travelling budgets. However, the sights of Shanghai are priceless. The Bund itself is beautiful, and the contrast between both banks of the Huangpu river brings to mind the constant contrast between old and new China. The high rise financial hub comes alight at night and makes for a mesmorising photo opportunity. It makes you feel very insignificant in the scale of things. The first photo below shows a wedding couple having their photo taken with the high rise buildings as the backdrop. The second photo is off a local father sporting some fashionable new season wear soon to hit the streets of Sheffield.

The first leg of the trip, China, has been assigned to me. We have five weeks to travel China before we need to be in Hong Kong for our flight to Bangkok. During this time we are going to cruise down the Yangtze on a bamboo boat, take trains south to Yunnan province to marvel at the picturesque scenery, and village hop through rural China before ending in Hong Kong. The first stop after Shanghai is Hangzhou, only 150km east, which we can reach on the high-speed bullet train in an hour. For now though I need to track down the nearest Xiabu Xiabu restaurant for Kate. That is my one job to accomplish before she arrives. I have been trying to get ahead in the tanning war since the weather here has been top draw so far. Photos will follow as to who is most tanned. Keep in touch and Zàijiàn!

P.S

I forgot to put on the last entry that every time me and Scott travel together I usually put him through some sort of emotional turmoil...

Venice - I forgot my passport, we had to disembark the train (Scott's face when he realised this wasn't the standard 'I have forgotten my passport' joke was priceless) and complete a mad taxi dash to my house and East Midlands airport with seconds to spare before the gate closing.

Beijing - I had my flight cancelled due to snow (I broke the news to Scott that I wouldn't be coming for Christmas), an hour later I found out I could fly after all (had to ring Scott to inform him of the error). I also lost my luggage in transit and had the pleasure on arrival to Beijing of having to fill in a form in Chinese with a Chinese man who spoke no English to assist me (I know no Chinese), so after not seeing each other for 4 months I stormed through arrivals with a face like thunder demanding to know where I could buy pants.

Paris - I lost our travel documents at some point in the airport, so over the tannoy an announcement was made for 'Scott Rentell' to immediately make himself known to airport staff, at this point we had no idea I'd lost the documents and all they wanted to do was hand them back. Fortunately the top document was in Scott's name and not mine, so I was spared the name and shaming to the whole of Manchester Airport.

Fingers crossed bad luck comes in 3's, otherwise Scotty could have aged 60 years by the end of this trip!

3 days....

On Good Friday I’m off to meet Scott who is currently holidaying with his parents in Shanghai! Coincidence has it that I am arriving 2 hours after his parents board a flight to leave, nothing personal mind, just scouting out the cheapest (direct) flights possible. After my last journey from Beijing back to Manchester I swore off China Southern Airlines after being faced with the prospect of either sitting behind a man who had put his chair so far back that I couldn’t see my feet, or the screening of the only film Legally Blonde 2 or sitting next to the toilet. I went for the latter, Legally Blonde 2 was good, however I will not fly in hellish conditions again. Virgin Atlantic got my custom this time round. Here is a very simple run down of our itinerary over the next 16 weeks…

China
Thailand
Laos
Vietnam
Cambodia
Malaysia
Wormley

Im anticipating some jetleg in Shanghai, therefore we’ll be taking it easy for the first few days. Over my Christmas visit to China I got obsessed with a chain restaurant called Xiabu Xiabu, where you are given your own pan of boiling hot water and veg, noodles, tofu etc and sesame dipping sauce. I got OBSESSED with the tofu sheets in sesame sauce, that its all I’ve been dreaming about in the run up to the trip. Luckilly I’ve checked the Xiabu website and there are a few restaurants in Shanghai, its Scott’s job to locate those restaurants and ensure that I will be dining in them on a daily basis, it is after all going to be possibly the last chance in my lifetime, unless I move to China. After Shanghai were heading towards Huangshan where we will be trekking the yellow mountain, I went on the treadmill today and managed about 15 minutes walking on the hill setting. The quiet peaceful views could be soon disturbed by the view of me trying to lug myself to the top, gripping to every tree and rock as I pass, photos will follow. After some banter on our last holiday about tans, the competition between me and Scott to develop the best tan on this trip has become outrageous. This could potentially result in us being wheeled off the plane after it has landed at Heathrow and into an ambulance towards the nearest major burns unit. Were thinking we better invest in some heavy duty moisturiser at least, picture the scene in The Hangover when he is discovered on the roof.

We’ve set up this blog as facebook is rather cruelly banned in China, so it will be a nice easy way to stay in touch, were requesting that you subscribe to it for a lovely email every time its updated, or at least put it in your favourites list. We hope everyone has an enjoyable few months until we return in August, we’ll miss you and keep in touch. Here is a photo of us for you to keep so you don’t miss us too much :-P.

Kate & Scott

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