The Asian Adventure

When we first arrived in Singapore last October it felt like we had a lifetime ahead of us in Asia. Now, three months, six countries and twenty-four places later it's all over. For now...

The saddest part of leaving Asia is not knowing when we'll come back but I'm comforted slightly by the fact that I will definitely return at some point. Initially I'd hoped that by travelling for an entire year I'd flush this travel bug right out of my system but it's clear now that won't be the case. In fact I've discovered that the very term 'travel bug' is highly misleading, for a bug is a condition suffered only temporarily. The travel bug, if you truly have it, lasts a lifetime. 

A friend of mine recently shared a quote with me describing travelling as 'a virus, one which worms its way into your bloodstream, attacks your bank balance, holiday allowance and social life but never blesses you with the zen-life satisfaction of thinking you've seen it all.' And it's true! The more I see the more I want to see and even after three months in Asia there is still so much left to explore; Burma, China, Java and the Philippines to name but a few.

I won't ever make my way across the entire globe but I've learnt since being away how important it is that we try. We're so fortunate in the UK that we have these opportunities which so many others around the world do not and we owe it to them to take advantage. A particular occasion springs to mind here: I was speaking to a Malaysian man in Langkawi who was surprised to learn that after Asia we were moving onto Australasia and then South America too. He commented that I must have worked for a long time to save up for such an epic trip and I replied that yes, I'd worked in London for two years. He immediately burst into laughter, not able to comprehend my response. 'I worked for fifteen years just to go to Singapore!' A terrible misjudgement on my part but it really put things into perspective. We are the lucky ones.

I've been trying to think of the best way to reflect on our time in Asia but we've seen so much and made so many countless memories that nothing short of a novel would suffice (one which I'm sure I'll write one day.) The best I can do at this point is to list the top ten things I will and won't miss in the hope that the latter might ease the pain of leaving at least a little. So here goes.

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Top 10 Things I'll Miss:

#1 FOOD

From back street markets to up market restaurants, the food in Asia has been outstanding. Newfound favourites include Cambodian amok, Malaysian roti and Thai massaman curry. I'd happily fork out the price of a plane ticket to taste any of these cuisines again. 

#2 BEACH BARS

Nothing feels better than dancing the night away with the sea breeze in your hair and sand between your toes. And it's a fact that cocktails taste better from buckets. Cramped, sweaty London clubs are just no comparison.

#3 LANDSCAPE

From paradise beaches to baron deserts, high rise cities to jungle forests; Asia has every landscape you could possibly dream of but they're far more beautiful in reality than any images found in the depths of my imagination.

#4 CULTURE

Asia oozes culture. A lot of it is centred around religion, the fusion between Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam found in most places. Wherever we went golden statues and the smell of incense were never too far away.

#5 CHEAP LIVING

The money I've spent in three months in Asia would have disappeared within three weeks back home. Splashing out more than a few pounds on a meal or accommodation is really going to hurt.

#6 RELAXED ATMOSPHERE

Nothing phases Asians. Their pace of life is so incredibly slow as they take their time to actually enjoy it. We quickly adapted to their way of thinking, forgetting for the most part what day we were on and expecting everything to be late. It's amazing how much less stressful time keeping is when you just stop keeping it.

#7 MODES OF TRANSPORT

Longtail boats and tuk tuks are my favourite ways of getting around. Being in the open air allows you to absorb your surroundings and gives you a better feel for the areas you're travelling through. Our taxi to the airport will be the first car we've been in in a long time and even that is fluorescent pink! Much more exciting than black cabs back home. 

#8 7-ELEVEN

Primarily from a toastie perspective but also on a general level. We've spent so much time in 7-Elevens that I feel sad I've heard my last annoying 'ding dong' of the automatic doors.

#9 MARKETS

I wish more than anything we were flying back via Asia so we could pick up the entire market on the way home. There are so many beautiful items to be bought and for whatever price you're willing to pay, providing you can stick out the haggling game long enough. 

#10 THE SUN

Everything about the Asian sun is stunning from the second it rises to the lasting moments after it's set. In three months I can't remember more than three days where it didn't shine down on us, despite it being their winter and rainy season in some areas we visited.

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Top 10 Things I Won't Miss:

#1 ROOSTERS

I don't know what they feed their roosters in Asia but it's keeping them up all night. Which in turn is keeping us up too! The bloody things are nocturnal and happy about it, cock-a-doodle-do-ing at every hour.

#2 JOURNEYS FROM A TO B VIA Z

No journey we ever made in Asia was simple. Each time we travelled from one place to another we were carted off in a truck, made to change buses multiple times and left in the middle of nowhere for hours with nothing but a coloured sticker on to say where we were supposed to end up. We always made it eventually but never ever on time.

#3 CUSTOMER SERVICE

It comes hand in hand with their laid back nature so for the most part we've taken it in our stride but there are times when being ignored or forgotten is more frustrating than fun. And even contemplating complaining is completely pointless - Asians are programmed to forget how to speak English as soon as you do.

#4 BED BUGS

I used to think bed bugs were imaginary little monsters invented by parents to scare their children into sleeping but Asia taught me differently. Thankfully these disgusting little pests have only bothered us once but the constant threat has lingered throughout.

#5 SQUAT TOILETS

You know it's bad when you'd rather squat on the side of the road than brave one of the holes in the floor they call toilets. It will be nice to not feel in a state of panic whenever we accidentally leave the room without toilet paper in our pockets and even nicer to be able to actually flush it when we do.

#6 SPITTING

For reasons unbeknownst to me it's perfectly acceptable in Asia to grunt and snort until saliva is gathered in your mouth and then spit it out wherever you fancy. I could stay here three years and the sound and sight of this would still make my stomach turn.

#7 MANGY ANIMALS

The majority of cats and dogs in Asia can only be described as mangy. Missing limbs, covered in scabs or potentially infested with rabies - they're a far cry from the cute little pets we play with back home and they're on every street corner.

#8 WHITENING CREAM

It's typical that we always want what we can't have. Whereas English people cover themselves in fake tan all year around to darken their skin, Asians use whitening creams to make theirs lighter. It's a sign of wealth to have fair skin because it's associated with not having to work outside. Therefore, we've found it really difficult to buy any moisturisers, cleansers or sun creams which don't have whitening lotion in them to counteract our tans.

#9 SWEET BREAD & FLUORESCENT JAM

I can't fault Asia's traditional dishes but their imitations of western foods leave a lot to be desired. Many hostels now offer free breakfast but it often consists of their sweet bread and fluorescent jam combo, essentially an artificial nightmare.

#10 BEING STARED AT LIKE AN ALIEN

The Asian community are fascinated by blonde haired, blue eyed people. Despite the hundreds of westerners arriving in Asia each day, every time I was stopped and asked for a photograph or stared at in the street it felt like I was the only one.

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That all said, even with ending on the negatives there's no fooling myself into thinking that the bad outweighs the good. In fact reading over the second list brings as much of a smile to my face as the first - I might not miss these things in particular but I will certainly miss the sense of accomplishment they bring when conquered and the hilarious stories which inevitably follow. Everything about the last few months has been fantastic and I genuinely have tears in my eyes writing this goodbye. 

I best leave it there before I turn into a blubbering, waffling mess but thank you so much Asia, it's been an absolute pleasure. Australia now has a lot to live up to!

No Sleep in Siem Reap

If there's one thing we've learnt about sleeper buses in South East Asia it's that they involve very little actual sleeping. For our journey from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap we forked out a few extra dollars for a 'hotel bus' which was supposed to come with all sorts of luxuries such as wifi, a power socket and a fully sized bed. Of course when it arrived it had none of these. The two of us were squished together on a top bunk which was narrower than a normal sized single. Cosy doesn't even cut it but we were just so thankful that we were next to one another and didn't have to half-spoon a random Cambodian man for fourteen hours. 

The journey was so bumpy that it felt like we'd travelled from town to city via a dirt track and each time we swerved or hit a pot hole we had to cling to the sides to avoid being thrown across the aisle - not the most relaxing of night tasks. However, just incase anyone on board could sleep through all of that the driver decided to beep his horn loudly each time we stopped for a toilet break (which seemed like every hour!)

All in all it was a nightmare but it made arriving in Siem Reap seem even more exciting. Our hostel was buzzing with backpackers, had a swimming pool at the centre and served $2 Pimms at the bar. We felt like we'd died (overnight, presumably) and gone to heaven. 

The biggest attraction in Siem Reap is the Angkor Wat Temple which is widely considered as one of the Wonders of the World. It's best viewed at sunrise so we planned to wake up at 4am the next morning to go and see it in all its glory. However, a few Pimms and vodkas later, we'd been persuaded to go out and as it approached midnight the idea of getting up in a few hours seemed less and less attractive. Ironically the bar we ended up in at 4am was called Angkor Wat? but it isn't quite so spectacular as the original so the second evening we vowed to stay in and do the temple tour properly the next morning. 

It was still pitch black when we climbed into a tuk tuk and even after an early night we were shattered. We arrived feeling pretty sorry for ourselves but as soon as we set eyes on Angkor Wat it was all forgotten. Even in the dim light the view was breathtaking and as the sun crept up behind the towers it became more and more beautiful. In the space of an hour the sky transformed from dark purples to lilacs tinted with pinks, before finally being taken over by a blinding golden ray which contrasts against the dark silhouette of the temple. A small pool of water situated on the green in front creates a reflection of this colourful scene, making it doubly as exquisite.

After taking a million and one photographs we entered the temple to take a look from the inside. Much of it is now ruins having been built in the early twelfth century but is nevertheless very impressive. Angkor Wat is surrounded by a number of smaller temples so we jumped back into our tuk tuk for a tour around those. We managed around six hours of staring at stone before tiredness won us over and we went back to our hostel to sleep.

Cambodia has been our favourite country so far so we're really sad to be leaving already and this is only made worse by the fact that our journey out is via another 'sleeper' bus. It's making me tired just thinking about it!

Koh Rong? Koh Right!

It's official, we've found paradise. 

Before coming to Cambodia I had no idea that the South coast is lined with clusters of tiny tropical islands. Fortunately, nobody else seems to know either and so the likes of Koh Rong are still very much deserted. 

Koh Rong is home to a small community of locals who have built guesthouses and beach bars to accommodate the handful of travellers who've discovered the island. They're as kind and welcoming as the Cambodians we've met on the mainland and seem pleased to share their secret paradise with us. 

The tiny village (if you can call it that) is still very under-developed. There's no roads or even pathways and the only electricity is powered from a generator which runs at limited times throughout the day. Needless to say the bungalows and guest rooms are very basic but what more do you need when they back onto the most heavenly beaches in South East Asia? The crystal clear water on your doorstep more than makes up for the lack of running water inside. 

The atmosphere on the island is one of pure relaxation. There's little to do but enjoy your surroundings and whilst we soaked up the sun in our bikinis, locals prefer to wander around in matching set pyjamas - something which we found hilarious but heart warming. I suppose they find it funny that we ever bother to get all dressed up. 

Another thing that surprised me was their incredibly trusting nature. There's very little money circulating on the island and so on numerous occasions we went to pay for something but couldn't because they didn't have the correct change to give us in return. Instead they'd scribble down a makeshift IOU and trust that we'd come back to settle it at a later date. It was comforting to realise that these people don't even know the meaning of dishonesty, let alone have it in them to exercise it. 

Koh Rong is so perfect that we could easily have spent weeks here just lapping up the beautiful view. In fact part of me was actually glad that we'd already booked and paid for our bus to Siem Reap or we may just never have left! 

The Killing Fields

Think for a moment of all the people in your life. Your family and friends, colleagues and team mates, distant acquaintances that you met once upon a time. Now imagine that in the course of the next three years, over a quarter of them will be die, dragged away and murdered in cold blood. That's one in four of everyone you know. Perhaps one of them is you...

It's difficult to picture but for every Cambodian over the age of thirty, this is their reality. When the Khmer Rouge took power over the country in the seventies, every family in Cambodia was separated and sent to either work camps or prisons where three million people were then killed, most for no reason whatsoever. Everyone has their own story but they're all echoes of one another, filled with death, suffering and utter heartache.

As we approached The Killing Fields we prepared ourselves for the most depressing day of our trip. Dark clouds had begun to gather overhead and the first spots of rain fell the minute we stepped down from our tuk tuk. It quickly turned into a plummeting monsoon. Pathetic fallacy at its best.

We wandered around the Killing Field with an audio guide which explained the horror of what went on there just thirty years ago. This particular site near Phnom Penh is just one of hundreds of its kind across the country and is where prisoners were brought to be killed during the civil war. Their bodies were thrown into deep pits in the ground which formed mass graves throughout the fields. Many have now been excavated but even today, fragments of bone, teeth and rags continue to be found, uncovering more and more victims. 

The audio guide does not hold back. It tells the devastating story in brutal detail in the hope that the horror will prevent such events from ever happening again. Walking around in the pouring rain we saw the clothes of young babies who had been torn from their mothers and the cracked skulls of prisoners who were beaten before having their throats slit. It was completely heartbreaking. What should otherwise have been a peaceful and beautiful woodland is poisoned with the overwhelming presence of death lingering throughout. 

The second war memorial site is the S21 prison where victims were held before being taken to the fields. It was once a high school but Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, transformed the classrooms into torture chambers and cell blocks. These rooms became home to hundreds of victims who lay shackled to the floor day in and day out, waiting to die. 

Some of the rooms at S21 have been left untouched but others have been turned into small museums, filled with photographs and testimonies from during the war. One cell block contains the photographs of every prisoner who ever stayed there and our guide told us that when the prison first reopened many Cambodians came to visit to see if they could find their lost relatives on the walls there. Even today many families don't know what became of their loved ones during those years, hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

Another room contains photographs of all the 'comrades' who worked at the prison, those who answered to Pol Pot. It's easy to condemn them for what they did but our guide, who had three family members die at the hands of these people, explained they had very little choice in the matter. The majority were young, uneducated teenagers who were tricked into joining the force with promises of a better life for them and their families. The reality was very different but once in, there was no way out. They either killed or were killed and if a former comrade was sentenced to death or imprisonment their whole families would join them. The Khmer Rouge believed that to kill a tree you must tear out the roots. 

Faced with the choice of the death of your family or the murder of strangers can you honestly say with any confidence that you'd act differently? Perhaps you would but it's impossible to know without being put in that position and I hope to the ends of the earth that none of us will ever live to find out. 

During the rule of the Khmer Rouge Cambodia was completely stripped of its identity. Music, religion and books were all banned, currency was abolished and even relationships were prohibited. It's incredible how much they've achieved in just thirty years, building Cambodia back up to the wonderful country that it once was. The people here will never forget the pain they suffered during the Civil War but they certainly won't let that hold them back either. It's truly inspiring. 

Falling in love with Cambodia

The moment we touched down in Cambodia I had a great feeling about the country. We'd been travelling for over twelve hours and were incredibly tired but one look at the tuk tuks waiting for us at arrivals was enough to cheer us both up. Our driver told us the journey to our hostel would cost seven dollars so we assumed it was just around the corner but forty minutes later we were still darting around the roads of Phnom Penh. We couldn't believe how cheap it was! 

Even more surprising though, was the fact we made it there at all. The roads in Cambodia are the epitome of chaos! Streams of traffic weave their way in and out of one another wherever they spot a gap whether that be on the wrong side of the road or even the pavement - anything goes! I can't help but wonder what they're taught in driving lessons; stop, start and hope for the best? It really is every tuk tuk, moped, car or lorry for himself.

Despite the near-crushed-to-death experiences at every crossroads we enjoyed the journey to our hostel. Riding by tuk tuk is the best way to see the city and to take it all in. Cambodia is the first country we've been to that feels as though it's not been built around tourism and it's refreshing to see how the people here really live, without even a hint of westernisation. 

As Cambodia isn't a holiday destination, there are very few tourists around. You may assume that this makes us stand out more but in fact we've found the opposite. Because tourism has had so little impact here, the locals don't associate us with making money and so we're left to slot into the hustle and bustle of the city largely unnoticed (blonde hair and all!) 

The majority of people are very poor (the average wage for a Cambodian is just two dollars a day!) but everyone we've met has been so kind and generous. We're carrying more around on our backs than they'll possibly ever own in a lifetime and yet they're not out to get you at all. They seem to be very happy and even happier to help wherever they can.

The icing on the cake for Cambodia is the food which again, is so, so cheap! You can either spend two dollars on a decent meal or pay fifty cents more and eat like a king. Regardless of whether you're at an up-market restaurant or on the floor of a street market, there's always a fantastic range of cuisines and it's all beautifully presented. I could stay here for a month and still not have tried everything I want to. 

We've so far only visited the capital, Phnom Penh, but we've been told that the rest of the country is equally as wonderful (although very different in parts.) We really can't wait to see more!