Story #5: Diamond in the Rough

Story #5: Diamond in the Rough I definitely saved the best for last. The Grand Finale. All About Thavi. After meeting Thavi I decided I was going to find and buy some sort of  protective bubble to keep him in, far away from all the mean people in the world. He’s the sort of guy that you love to be around. The kind of guy who is so nice, some people might take advantage of him because he’d just roll along with it avoiding confrontation. When you meet him, you just... Read More

Story #4: Living on $3.00

Story #4: Living on $3.00 We ate most of our meals in one reliable restaurant. When we go to a new city of course we try to find new places to eat at everyday, but at the same time we find ourselves going back to the same restaurant once or twice a day. I like the chance of getting to know the staff and when you find something you love why leave it? In one particular restaurant we had the same server every single time. He was there serving breakfast at 8:00am and he was still... Read More

Story #3: Slum or Orphanage?

Story #3: Slum or Orphanage? After the past few days hanging out on the street with the homeless girl and her mom, and getting told we should die because we wouldn’t buy books from children– we both agreed we should try to do a little something to help out, somewhere. -the hair braiders- We’d heard through the grapevine that orphanages in Phnom Penh are in desperate need for tourist funding. Our amazing & very reliable tuk-tuk driver Thavi, told us he... Read More

Story #2: Kids & the F-Bomb

Story #2: Kids & the F-Bomb This is your warning, when in Cambodia don’t buy books from the kids. Learn from our mistake. Please, save yourselves.    Ok, ok, ok, I know buying books from the kids who walk around with a basket busting of different knocked off reads isn’t a good idea. Yea, yea, it supports child labor and all that jazz. When I think about the money situation their families must be in, when they’re desperate enough to make their 10-year-old... Read More

Story #1: Happy & Homeless

The next 5 posts [from me] are each going to focus on 1 unique story, each happening in Phnom Penh, and each with a certain ‘WOW’ Factor. Enjoy.   Welcome to Phnom Penh.  A city that offers everything from towering sky scrapers with suit and tie workers hurrying in & out to bug stands & a noticeable growing divide between the rich and poor. Coming to Cambodia after our stay in Laos, I didn’t expect to be so shocked. Undoubtedly, there is poverty... Read More

Poverty and Massacres: The Beauty of Phnom Pehn?!

We left the baron Ban Lung for the capital city, Phnom Penhn, on what turned out to be the WORST bus ride ever!! We had to wait for 3 hours on the main road to the capital because lorries we slipping off the road!! Finally though, with some pretty crazy driving to make up time, our bus arrived at about 9pm. Independance Monument Our first conscious hours in Phnom Pehn were spent with our usual initial wanderings. We ambled down the main streets, hitting a market &... Read More

Transport in Cambodia? yea right.

Cambodia. Traveling through the rough and rigid jungle roads during rainy season- IMPOSSIBLE. Why did we choose to be the dumbass backpackers to attempt this? Here’s an excerpt from my journal… 6/23/2009 WHAT WERE WE THINKING?! TRAVELING IN RAINY SEASON IN NORTHERN CAMBODIA? WHERE GETTING FROM POINT A TO POINT B ON A SUNNY DAY TAKES HOURS, HOW ARE WE SUPPOSE TO DO IT IN A MONSOON? I am writing while sitting on an old decaying palm tree trunk, swatting these annoying... Read More

Ban Lung: Cambodia in the face!

US Dollars in hand, we got our visas at the Laos-Cambodia border & stopped off in Stung Treng before our final bus to Ban Lung in the North West of Cambodia. Cambodia’s currency is Riel, 4000 of which equals $ 1, … bloody inflation hey !?… but for reasons I do not truly understand they much prefer to deal in dollars, which did mean Nicky could at last understand a currency without asking me how much every item was!!! Ban Lung is what our guide book calls... Read More

Mud 1, Us 0

The last few places we have been we literally had no electricity, and no internet, no light, added in with drinking bad water = Rhys running to the bathroom in the middle of the night, trying to fumble his way out of his mosquito net, getting bitten by sneaky mosquitos, while trying to light a candle, in a frantic state of butt clenches, to run to our hole in the ground. What a SIGHT!…anyway, that’s a whole other blog to write! Made it to Cambodia and guess... Read More

Down the Road in Laos

Having survived the tubing experience we decided it was time to head back into the water & take a less obvious mode of transport down to Laos’ capital, Vientiane. Kayaking. It turned out to be a horrific idea given that James & I were absolutely hanging after the previous night’s excursions in the party capital of Vang Vieng! Thankfully the journey was split between kayak & minibus so our misery was somewhat reduced.  Vientiane is pretty understated... Read More