Siem Riep- Cambodia....and the Temples of Angkor

 The Temples of Angkor are one of the seven wonders of the world and are one of the most famous world heritage sites. For budgetting reasons and the fact that both of us feel there are only so many temples someone can appreciate in one day we decide to buy a one day pass! We are up at five am and our Tuk-tuk driver takes us to Angkor Wat for sunrise...a lot of other tourists have the same idea (unsuprisingly) and we are really unlucky as its very cloudy so it wasnt a great sunrise! I'm impressed by Angkor Wat purely because of its age but i wouldnt say it made me think WOW!

 We then visited the citied wall of Angkor Thom....which includes a few temples as well as the elephant bridge and Lepar King temple. I personally felt that Angkor Thom was better than Angkor Wat.....don't know if thats traveller blasphomy or not? lol!

Lastly we visited the tree temple. This really had the wow factor! Giant trees with even bigger roots shooting straight through the middle of the temples perfectly highlighting the temples age! This was a real plus point on the tour. 
Overall it was good....however i dont really understand how people can spend three days here! I think i might get really templed out by then!

Kratie - Cambodia

So we got ripped off lol! The first time either of us have been asked to pay to leave a country! 2 USD straight into the Laos guards pocket! Then when we get to the Cambodian side its 1 USD to have your temperature taken (first time ive seen tempanic thermometer being used on the cheek for a reading lol) and they give you a yellow piece of paper to say you had no disease in transit! Then you pay 22 USD for the visa (should be 20 USD but apparantly the 2USD is a processing fee!) then another 1 USD for your immigration card! Really we should have argued the point but their not that friendly to be fair! Next time we know all the tricks....ask for the manager, a piece of paper outlining the changes and when they happened...or ask for a receipt!

Anyway we have arrived in Cambodia and wait an hour for our bus...it's broken down! When we arrive in Kratie we get dropped off at a hotel..(.tuk-tuk drivers get money for getting customers for hotels) we decide to take a stroll when Mr Lucky approaches us and tells us about a reasonably priced room so we take a look. It's a nice room so we take it and then arrange a dolphin watching tour with him (Irrawaddy dolphins are only in Cambodia and their are few places you can see them wild)...the management know him well so it seems ok! That evening we meet two retired guys from England who are cycling SE Asia. They started in Bangkok and have cycled through Laos and now have made it to Cambodia (averaging 150km a day) very impressive! We go out for some dinner with them to a lovely little place called Star Restuarant and Guesthouse....(if your ever in Kratie the owner Mao is lovely and the food is great!)

The next morning we get up early to go see the dolphins and meet two Latvian guys who are also coming with us! Mr Lucky was true to his word and we see the dolphins!!! It was great fun! When we are back in the town we go to book out bus out with the two Latvian guys and meet Aimee and Kad from Hull.....a really nice couple and spend the day with them cycling around a little Island off of Kratie! We meet lots of locals who find it hillarious seeing four white people on bikes...they run out and shout hello! I nearly ran one of their chickens over which they also found funny!

That evening me and Mooonface,the two latvians,the cyclists and the couple from Hull all get invited to join Mao for a drink and some food in Star Restuarant. He is a really generous guy and feeds us with free vodka shots getting very drunk himself and randomly saying things like
1) my name is michael caine and not a lot of people know that
2) you were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off
3) alright mate
4) going up the apple and pears with my dog and bone......funny guy!
Its a great night...lots of fun and we say our goodbyes!

Koh Kong Island- 4,000 Islands-Laos

As I said before the boat trip here was hideous a small little rocky boat! We find a nice guest house directly opposite the dock which is handy! We then decided to hire bikes again and cycle round the island. I'm gettin used to this cycling malakey!

This is the Island people don't really seem to stop at! It's only had electricity for two years and the internet is extortionate but as the 'BIBLE' (Lonely Planet) says this place feels like it has retained itself! As we cycle through the Island kids and adults wave and shout hello to us! It's an awesome experience!

We stop off for a drink during the ride on a floating restuarant! Great views of the Mekong!

There really isn't a lot to do here but relax! The original plan was to head to the next Island and then the next but after the horrific boat journey i didnt feel safe doing another one for 1 hour 30 mins so we decided to head to Cambodia instead the next day! So i only have to do a short 5 mins journey in one of those boats....very relieved!

Champasak-Laos

We get to Champasak in a local Tuk-Tuk from the market and its a fine journey...I'm suprised! Our Guesthouse it right on the Mekong and is a reasonable price! The view from our little bungalow is epic...Charlie's pleased he has a hammock! Champasak is a one street town and it feels like real Laos to us! It's great! I'm burnt from the swimming pool incident so dont want to be out in the sun much so i stay at the hostel and catch up with postcard writing! Charlie heads of to see the ancient town ruins....on a bike thats about the same age!

Thinking about my Big Little Bro today- he has his exam for the R.A.F- Good Luck Tom....wishing and praying it goes perfectly for you xxx

The next morning we are getting the boat to Koh Kong Island....our guest house manager rips us off as he is already going that way and we get on his mates boat.to cross to the mainland ferry port.....which is a hideous journey...then in his van to the next boat and have to pay for the boat to the island which should have been included...Well you live and learn hey!

Pakse- Laos

 So we arrive in Pakse and im hot and bothered! Tuk-tuk driver tries to rip us off and then drives us to the wrong hostel! The first few we ask are are all fully booked and im getting burnt! I spot a hotel that looks pretty nice its 40USD a night and i think oh screw it we are staying here for two nights ill pay for it myself! Charlie is not best pleased...he hates being a package whore and prefers the únique' hostels! The pool was a complete suprise but i couldnt wait to get in there!

 So as you can see from the photos Charlie hates being a Package Whore and hes really not enjoying the swimming pool!

 Our room was lovely....like an ice box with a massive bathroom.

I finally felt like myself again! Clean and refreshed! The only down side to having an awesome swimming pool to lie around is that i got burnt sooo bad...ouch! So our little holiday was awesome while it lasted!

Savannakhet-Laos

Everything in Savannakhet is spread out....so it was a long walk to try and find a room early in the morning!We eventually find somewhere which is apparantly a mosquito breeding ground and houses the worlds biggest spider!lol!I'm so tired and turn on the T.V to watch HBO (the best thing when your away from home and want an English language film to watch). After that we walk around....its a really nice little town with lots of crumbling french architecture.

The next day we find a better room for less money...result! Then hire some bikes and cycle around the town! My first time on a bike since i was roughly errrr 11 so that was funny at first!We then head off to visit the dinosaur museum....comically disapointing lol! It's soo hot so we cycle round a couple of temples and then call it a day. The football is on tonight so of course we watch that.Unfortunately Tottenham loose...arrr dear! Charlie took it like a man though no strops much! hehe!

Vientiane- Laos!

So Vientiane!Well it was a nightmare trying to find a room,everywhere full so we ended up getting ripped off on a room with mosquitoes everywhere.....so i got eaten alive AGAIN lol! It's just not very fitting of what Laos has been so far.It reminds me of KL in Malaysia...dirty...smoggy...not much doing! So we decided definately one night here then night bus to the next place!
We decided to get the hell out of the centre and visited the Buddha Park. Basically its a collection of statues built by a former ruler of Laos who was a bit excentric! It was a really cool place though and it was nice to get out of the centre for a while! Even the cardboard bus journey was a highlight lol!

Vang Vieng...Tubing...and Mr Purvis-Laos

So firstly i think i should probably explain Tubing for those of you that dont know what it is. Basically you hire a tractor tyre inner tube and float down the river (unfortunately not the Mekong) and on the banks of the river is bars with various activities...beer pong,free shots,slides, zip wires etc etc!As you float down the river you stick your hand out when you wanna go into a bar and someone throws you a rope and pulls you in! Of course me and Moonface are far too sophisticated to want to do this (cough cough!) but Phil our long lost friend now living in Oz was there on holiday so we though we would sacrifice a few days and join him!
We got there in the afternoon, decided it was too late to go tubing so just hung out and caught up! Met a some of Phil's friends and then headed to the bucket bar...(free bucket of Laos whiskey) and then not so free buckets of Laos whiskey (bout 3GBP). Now it was really nice to see Phil but the Bucket bar when you are sober is a hideous place...drunken westeners acting like idiots....and there are no Laos people working here...actually thank god because they would think we were....it would be even more embarrassing lets say!

Next day we got up...not so bright and early and headed to get our tubes. Tubing costs about 5GBP for your tube including a deposit which you get back if you keep and eye on the tubes (unlike us). The tuktuk drove us there with our tyres ontop...from there you cross a small bridge...not a secure one lol! and your at the first bar.Start as you mean to go on...free shit and a beer. Music is blaring everyone is being friendly saying hello and having a chat....its lovely a sunny...i gotta admit i wanted to hate it but i think its gonna be fun. I was really wanting to get in the river and actually tube so me,moonface and phil all get in a start floating down the river. Out come the rope which drags me in to the next bar. This time everyone is up dancing the routine from the Inbetweeners film very very funny! Basically thats how the day went...lots of fun had!

Luang Prabang and the birth of MEKONG MOONFACE!

Luang Prabang was a really pretty place!Even with the many white faces around i think Moonface couldnt really moan and he was very excited to see the Mekong! Therefore he shall now be called Mekong Moonface hehe! We had a couple of really lazy days here just looking around the various temples and doing a bit of shopping for presents to send back home.

Everything here shuts at 11:30 pm which keeps the centre feeling like Laos and not some hot place for westerners to come and drink lots of beer Laos. There was a Tottenham game on so of course we found a bar and watched it...we met an english couple, a guy from liverpool and a very strange dutch boy so we all decided to get a tuktuk to the bowling alley the only place you can drink past 11:30. Bowling was fun...i played a game and came second out of four people! best yet! Not a lot really happened here but it was a nice place to kick back and relax!

Jinghong,Crossing The Border and Luang Nam Tha

One night in Jinghong at a hostelling international....seperate dorms for girls and boys...lets just say it was a rubbish hostel. Next day we went to the bus station to cross the border to Laos and get to Luang Nam Tha. At the bus station we meet a Canadian couple called Liza and Ty who are also doing the same bus trip as us and bump into Sarah and Jeremy!The border crossing was pretty uneventful. The Chinese border guards were very nice questioning Charlie on where Harold Wood was and generally talking about football and then asking me where my fringe had gone (I have one in my passport photo) and what we call a fringe in the U.K....very random but funny! The Chinese border was much more extravagant than the Laos border which appeared to be a shed!We paid our border fee...less than the other nationalities, yaaay for being British and we were in Laos!!!

Luang Nam Tha was pretty much a one street town. Lined with Guesthouses and restuarant/bars. There were a lot of tourist but it still felt authentic to me! The people were very nice and we managed to get a nice room for less than 4 GBP each!We all sat and ate together and shared a few beers and generally had a good evening. A woman came up selling bracelets (the type Charlie likes!) so we haggled with her to get 7 bracelets for 6,000 kip and 2 yuan!This is roughly 70p. There is 12,000 kip to the pound!She then proceeded to make kissing noises at Mattheui (a french guy we met on the bus) and we all thought she wanted a kiss...it turned out she was selling drugs...welcome to Laos!We all started laughing and declined her offer and she went on her merry way....Think i'm gonna like the people in Laos....no aggression or harrassment here!

Lijang to Jinghong!A very interesting bus journey!

So we left for the bus station early...lets just say it was still dark!Short walk but we got lost and it seemed longer because I was in agony from climbing the Gorge still! Finally Charlie found the bus station and we climbed onto our sleeper bus.A sleeper bus is basically a normal bus with beds in it so theres bottom and top beds.We were at the back of the bus at the bottom...seemed brilliant plenty of room quite comfortable! Everything went smoothly untill we got to Dali.....an extremely nice but extremely tall American Couple (Sarah and Jeremy) got on so there was five of us squished into the back....lucky me and Charlie are not the tallest of people I felt for them really I did. We were heading up mountain roads and when we arrived at the top of a pass the traffic stood to a standstill......I stood for two hours infact! If only this was the worst bit. The guy above us apparantly suffered from motion sickness and was vomiting the poor american couple got a bit of spray back and poor Charlie got spat on!NICE!Once we started off again it was three hours before we came to another complete standstill....this time a man had been knocked down a ditch on his motorbike and everyone was just standing around looking pretty much. Apparantly the rumour goes if you see someone hurt in China do not help as you could be landed with the medical bill....nice! It took a very long time for the police to turn up....the police surely the ambulance should be there first! They proceeded to take lots of pictures but no one seemed to be giving this guy any medical attention. I was starting to feel very sick!Eventually the ambulance turns up....everyone faffs about for ages and then it drives off.No one was really sure if anyone got in...or what happened but we all thought the guy was a goner!Apparantly the locals reported the guy was fine in the end!Because of the hold up it was now dark so we had to stop in the next town and sleep on the bus with the driver starting the journey again at 6am. Nice food in a local place...possibly a bit too expensive but if a busload of people turn up at your closed restuarant and you cook for them your gonna charge more right!I actually got a pretty good night sleep in the end and woke up just as we were arriving in Jinghong.I was so pleased to get there as I think everybody else was!!

Lijang

The old town of Lijang where we were staying is a UNESCO Heritage site since 1997. It has a history going back for more than 800 years.It's very beautiful and you could almost believe you were stepping back in time.

 We had a pretty lazy day today.Just a bit of shopping and looking around the millions of alleyways. Managed to pick up a late birthday present for mum. Also some postcards too.

We had a very expensive coffee where Charlie was adopted by the resident cat...well someones gotta like him hey!This evening we ate a traditional Naxi meal cooked by the family that own the guest house...it was delicious! and only cost 2GBP each so cant complain. Tomorrow we have to be up at half five to catch our sleeper bus to the border town with Laos...cant wait for the sunshine!

Tiger Leaping Gorge

It was a vile journey up to the Gorge. Sheer cliff faces!Not fun and my mum would definately not have enjoyed it!We eventually arrive at the starting point...Jane's Guesthouse! Everywhere you look guest have written how good this place is...well i dunno when they visited but its definately gone downhill!Horrible food...horrible room...freezing and i was up all night again!We then got a mini bus to the Tea Horse Guest House- this misses out a massive chunk of the trek but i didnt much fancy the 28 bends that climb up to 2670m....saying  that the mini bus up there wasnt much fun...i nearly had a heart attack! The trek wasnt too bad at the beginning...we pass the Halfway Guest House and take a little clamber up a dodgy path.I was slightly out of breath but i was starting to think that this trek would be less physical and more mental! The track passes along the edge of a mountain and its a straight drop one side!One slip and its pretty much game over for Cari!Don't fancy ruining mums birthday (Happy Birthday Mum) by falling to my death!So i'm being overly careful sliding down on my bum for some parts...ouch!

Then we have to scramble across a waterfall which runs down the side of the mountain.Reebok workouts not the best footwear! From here there is one more up hill part but these are the better parts to do as they have rocks to grab onto for some support.From then on its all downhill on a cliff edge....the path winds back and forth to attempt to make it less steep but trust me its steep enough! My legs were shaking so badly....i've pretty much never felt fear and adrenaline like this before but the views are unbelievable....completely breathtaking! I managed to ignore the little voice telling me...'this is really not good Cari...you can trip over nothing...now your walking on the edge of a cliff...be bloody careful!!!' and the feeling i felt when i saw the end point..Tina's Guest House was relief more than pride!

I'm pretty proud of myself now though!I really wanted to chicken out of this one but im glad i didnt even if it was 2 hours and 20 mins of hell (thats a pretty good time to do it in too). I think any one that knows me well would never have thought i would complete something like this. As Moonface says though 'I would have really missed out!!'

Chengdu and the Panda's!

So we arrive in Chengdu and find our hostel...its a hostelling international but its really cool. It has a garden to sit out in and at this point its not too cold. The bar is really nice and was a good place to meet other people!The people that work there speak good english and we took part in a quiz again!We did better than the last time though,so that a bonus.

Next day we get up and head out to the Panda Research Base...i'm nervous and hope that its better than Beijing Zoo!  The bus drops us right outside and we head in.The Panda's have large enclosures that are full of natural habitat and there is plenty of activities for them to do to keep them occupied.Although they are pretty much all eating or sleeping....oh to be a panda lol! They seem really content and in good health.I'm happy! We even get to see some baby panda's that were born in August....the base had 6 new panda's born this year...thats a big achievement as Panda's are known for having no desire to mate.

We then walk a bit further to see the Red Panda enclosures...the first one is closed as it is being improved but the second is still open. It's not really an enclosure to be fair....its a massive open island surrounded by a moat and the Red Panda's can roam around, climbing the trees. It was very impressive. We didnt stay too long as Charlie was getting annoyed at the people who were feeding the animal...which you are not supposed to do...they are wild animals after all!
We are then randomly approached by a man who tells us many times ....'English.....i like Owen' and pretend to kick a football......very strange but amusing!
The Panda Research Base is a definate must see if you come to Chengdu....its really nice to see animals treated well and the success they are having bringing new Panda's into the world is great!!Big thumbs up for me!

Xi'an and The Terra-cotta Warriors

So the train to Xi'an was again LONG as seems to be the ongoing trend in China but there is a funny story on this one...well it seemed to be for Charlie anyway. For the first time we were on the top bunk of three on the train....hmmm do you think i could work out how to get my fat backside up there....well i did FINALLY....after much complaining and looking at Charlie for some help or inspiration at least....all he managed to do was get photographic evidence of the struggle.Not only that but once i did manage to get up there and of course had to come down at some point...again this provided many laughs!You would think that once i worked it out  i would be able to do it the second time....WRONG!!!!Anyway when we arrived in Xi'an we had a free pick up so no walking!!!!!YAY. The hostel we stayed at Hang Tang Inn was lovely more like a boutique hotel than a hostel. We dropped all our stuff off and headed out to see the Warriors. There are 3 pits where you can see them. Pit 2 was very dissapointing...pit 1 slightly better...but pit 3 was absolutely epic!The story goes the emporer who was not a very good boy was so scared of the after life he built an army to protect him in his tomb. The warriors were found by a couple of Chinese guys trying to dig a well....can you imagine stumbling across that.....gobsmacking!!! Charlie was devastated to learn the the BIBLE otherwise known as the Lonely Planet had let us down...the price quoted was half of the ACTUAL cost...still worth the £11 definately. Next night was New Years Eve...Ashley and Dora the lovely girls we met on the Trans-Mongolian joined us at the hostel for a quiz...we came 3rd out of 4 teams...GET IN!!!Midnight came with everyone a bit confused exactly when we should cheer and celebrate..and no one remembering the words to old langs....but it was all good fun with the whole bar fingerprinting and signing their names on a piece of paper that will apparantly hang in the hostel bar untill the place crumbles!The only dissapointment was that we were both planning to speak to our parents via webcam...again Chinese computers let us down and the damn thing wouldnt work. I still got to speak to mum and dad which i was relieved about but it could have been better if the tech worked. Oh well...least i got to wish them a happy new year.Next stop Chengdu to see the panda's!!

Shanghai

We got to Shanghai via another LONG train journey!I'm not really gonna bore you with this one as nothing remotely interesting happened lol. When we arrived in Shanghai we quickly noticed that neither of us were gonna particularly like the place...it could be any city in any part of the world and it was just big buildings followed by another set of big buildings but you cant go to China without going to Shanghai so here we were. Basically we spent our time walking around! We visited a part of town near the old Town which was pretty but not authentic!I found Charlie a replacement ring...so thats a positive!!And Charlie also found a Costa Coffee...'hello my long lost friend i thought it was gonna be six months before i saw you again....vanilla latte so good...even if it did cost £3.50 for a small...there ya go two positives!Oooo i found a third...they train station was closer than in Beijing so not as much walking with the backpack!

Christmas 2011-Beijing

So xmas eve daytime me and Charlie decided we would spend £10 on each other for xmas....(because of the travel budget) we were both allowed one hour to buy the presents and could only shop down one road so as not to loose each other.This led to some very funny moments where we both wanted to browse the same shop and had to hide presents very sharpish. But we were both successful and i won the challenge managing to purchase 7 gifts with 1 yuan to spare! Xmas day came and the presents provided many jokes...like my fake Chinese passport with my photo in and the name Karl Pilkington...thanks moonface.As well as my wallet i got Charlie with money is my fucking favourite!Xmas eve was spent in a bar...dubstep night.....this night will forever be called the night china killed dubstep iv even taken a video for my brother.....Tom they scratched over dubstep lol it was hillarious!For dinner we went to a restuarant round the corner from our hostel and had a slap up chinese meal all for less than £8 each and went back to wait for the sweedish non couple to come visit. Vodka and beer purchased we had a great night with Viktor and Johanna...two great people that i am really pleased to know!I missed my family very much and it was extrememly hard to have my first xmas away from them but i know they are proud of what i am doing and it will make next year even more enjoyable.Mum,...i cant wait for you xmas dinner next year!!