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Lucy & Hannah's Adventures!
Hi all!
Well, after further island-hopping around Thailand Han and I have now hit
Cambodia! From Kho Phi-Phi we spent a crazy 2 nights on Koh Samui: the first
night was spent in a very spacious room right in the centre of Chaweng,
which seemed like excellent value until we discovered that our 'window' (a
mosquito net) overlooked an open air club with live music...there's nothing
like Abba on full blast to send you off to sleep ey! The following night was
a complete contrast, as we ended up in a beautiful spa resort not far from
the famous Grandma and Grandfather rock (amusing phallic rock
formations...check out the photos on our STA website!) This really was good
value, and we sampled some exciting health foods, including a shot of some
kind of plant juice (I'm personally still feeling the health benefits ;) and
enjoyed meditation on the beach at 7.30 am!
From here we headed to the beautiful island of Koh Tao, where we spent 4
incredible days diving to earn our PADI Open Water licence...yes, that's
right, we are now fully qualified divers...bring it on! It was absolutely
amazing, though a little scary at first, and much more tiring than you'd
think, but it was so rewarding to complete the course, and obviously
brilliant to see all the crazy aquatic life!
Our final island stop was Kho Pha-gnan, where we spent a VERY relaxing few
days on a mountainside bungalow with breathtaking views of the sea, and
where our room came complete with monkeys outside our window! I would
recommend this to anyone visiting Kho Pa-gnan, if only to experience the
roller-coaster of a lift to reach the bungalows (hold on, as it travels at
break-neck speeds of about 1 metre per minute..!) The only time the location
wasn't quite so ideal was in the middle of a power cut, where Han and I
spent an hour covering a 5 minute walk from the beach in torrential rain,
thunder and lightning!
We of course coincided our visit here with the infamous Full Moon Party! It
was excellent fun, and (thankfully) not quite as wild as I had
anticipated...though we did opt *not* to visit the magic mushroom milkshake
end of the beach! Although the famous buckets didn't give us the hangovers
we had dreaded, I do have a SPECTACULAR bruise on my thigh from falling off
a table I'd been dancing on...and okay, whatever it sounds like, I wasn't
that drunk...a silly guy tried to climb up and overturned the table in the
process...nice.
So our Thailand adventures went out with a bang (haha sorry that pun was
unintended!) and we've now landed in Cambodia! However much I enjoyed
Thailand, I have officially fallen in love with Cambodia. The country is
beautiful and the people are so friendly. We spent the first 3 days around
Angkor Wat and it is utterly breathtaking...the temples are incredibly
beautiful and so peaceful - even the little kids who pester you non-stop
into buying souvenirs are so cute! It's unbelievable and a little
disturbing, however, to see children as young as 3 who know enough English
to try and coax you into buying anything for 'one dollar!' We also found it
extremely amusing to watch some of the Japanese tourists posing suggestively
in front of the temples! We watched an amazing sunrise at Angkor Wat, and
spent a tiring but incredible 2 days exploring the various temples in the
middle of the jungle...it has definitely been one of my favourite places so
far. Oh and I almost forgot, we got talking to two monks in Angkor Wat who
(unbelievably) asked to exchange email addresses with us! It's a little
surreal to think that monks in the largest holy building in the world
apparently fit email time into their schedule...! Tut tut, technology these
days, hey.
Cambodia seems in general to be a lot more run down than Thailand, and
simple huts line the single dirt road that leads from Poipet to Siam Reap,
where you see whole families travelling along on one bicycle! Although the
drivers are thankfully a little more sane here, the roads are a million
times worse...we had a much-needed shiatsu massage last night after a 4 hour
drive to Phnom Phen with our 2 new Danish friends, in a famous school run by
blind masseurs! I must admit it was a little strange to have a blind
Cambodian man massage my bum, but it was seriously one of the best massages
I've ever had.
Today was a difficult cultural day as we visited the S-21 museum and the
Killing Fields, where the Khmer Rouge atrocities and the horrific torture
took place in the 1970s. It was awful to see the remains of clothes and
human bones lying scattered across the ground, not to mention the 8000
skulls and the photographs of tortured victims on display. It seems crazy to
think that it took place so recently...
We're planning to cheer ourselves up this evening with another delicious
meal (the food here is excellent, particularly the French dishes so far) and
hopefully with some incredible chocolate fudge cake that Imo's recommended
to me (thank you!!)
Anyway, sorry this is so long but hope everyone's well...miss you all lots
and let me know what you're all up to!
Lots of love,
Lucy xxx
Well, after further island-hopping around Thailand Han and I have now hit
Cambodia! From Kho Phi-Phi we spent a crazy 2 nights on Koh Samui: the first
night was spent in a very spacious room right in the centre of Chaweng,
which seemed like excellent value until we discovered that our 'window' (a
mosquito net) overlooked an open air club with live music...there's nothing
like Abba on full blast to send you off to sleep ey! The following night was
a complete contrast, as we ended up in a beautiful spa resort not far from
the famous Grandma and Grandfather rock (amusing phallic rock
formations...check out the photos on our STA website!) This really was good
value, and we sampled some exciting health foods, including a shot of some
kind of plant juice (I'm personally still feeling the health benefits ;) and
enjoyed meditation on the beach at 7.30 am!
From here we headed to the beautiful island of Koh Tao, where we spent 4
incredible days diving to earn our PADI Open Water licence...yes, that's
right, we are now fully qualified divers...bring it on! It was absolutely
amazing, though a little scary at first, and much more tiring than you'd
think, but it was so rewarding to complete the course, and obviously
brilliant to see all the crazy aquatic life!
Our final island stop was Kho Pha-gnan, where we spent a VERY relaxing few
days on a mountainside bungalow with breathtaking views of the sea, and
where our room came complete with monkeys outside our window! I would
recommend this to anyone visiting Kho Pa-gnan, if only to experience the
roller-coaster of a lift to reach the bungalows (hold on, as it travels at
break-neck speeds of about 1 metre per minute..!) The only time the location
wasn't quite so ideal was in the middle of a power cut, where Han and I
spent an hour covering a 5 minute walk from the beach in torrential rain,
thunder and lightning!
We of course coincided our visit here with the infamous Full Moon Party! It
was excellent fun, and (thankfully) not quite as wild as I had
anticipated...though we did opt *not* to visit the magic mushroom milkshake
end of the beach! Although the famous buckets didn't give us the hangovers
we had dreaded, I do have a SPECTACULAR bruise on my thigh from falling off
a table I'd been dancing on...and okay, whatever it sounds like, I wasn't
that drunk...a silly guy tried to climb up and overturned the table in the
process...nice.
So our Thailand adventures went out with a bang (haha sorry that pun was
unintended!) and we've now landed in Cambodia! However much I enjoyed
Thailand, I have officially fallen in love with Cambodia. The country is
beautiful and the people are so friendly. We spent the first 3 days around
Angkor Wat and it is utterly breathtaking...the temples are incredibly
beautiful and so peaceful - even the little kids who pester you non-stop
into buying souvenirs are so cute! It's unbelievable and a little
disturbing, however, to see children as young as 3 who know enough English
to try and coax you into buying anything for 'one dollar!' We also found it
extremely amusing to watch some of the Japanese tourists posing suggestively
in front of the temples! We watched an amazing sunrise at Angkor Wat, and
spent a tiring but incredible 2 days exploring the various temples in the
middle of the jungle...it has definitely been one of my favourite places so
far. Oh and I almost forgot, we got talking to two monks in Angkor Wat who
(unbelievably) asked to exchange email addresses with us! It's a little
surreal to think that monks in the largest holy building in the world
apparently fit email time into their schedule...! Tut tut, technology these
days, hey.
Cambodia seems in general to be a lot more run down than Thailand, and
simple huts line the single dirt road that leads from Poipet to Siam Reap,
where you see whole families travelling along on one bicycle! Although the
drivers are thankfully a little more sane here, the roads are a million
times worse...we had a much-needed shiatsu massage last night after a 4 hour
drive to Phnom Phen with our 2 new Danish friends, in a famous school run by
blind masseurs! I must admit it was a little strange to have a blind
Cambodian man massage my bum, but it was seriously one of the best massages
I've ever had.
Today was a difficult cultural day as we visited the S-21 museum and the
Killing Fields, where the Khmer Rouge atrocities and the horrific torture
took place in the 1970s. It was awful to see the remains of clothes and
human bones lying scattered across the ground, not to mention the 8000
skulls and the photographs of tortured victims on display. It seems crazy to
think that it took place so recently...
We're planning to cheer ourselves up this evening with another delicious
meal (the food here is excellent, particularly the French dishes so far) and
hopefully with some incredible chocolate fudge cake that Imo's recommended
to me (thank you!!)
Anyway, sorry this is so long but hope everyone's well...miss you all lots
and let me know what you're all up to!
Lots of love,
Lucy xxx
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