Lahu Village, Northern Thailand

Thai Massage Course :)

My thai massage course adventure started in Chiang Mai. We were asked to arrive for 12pm to register and we would travel from there to our Thai hill village together as a group.  The drive to the village started with us all sat in the back of a truck feeling the wind in our hair lol! Not quite as much fun as my sitting on the roof of a bus experience in Nepal... I perhaps should have known then how it would work out, I didn't have the best feeling from the beginning but did try to remain optimistic. India taught me that first impressions are not always right, and look how much I adored that crazy little town called Rishikesh ;) Ah happy Rishikesh memories :)

I smile to myself when I look back at how excited I was to start my thai massage course.

After a two hour journey we arrived to the village of Lahu, located 80km outside of Chiang Mai in the Chiang Rai region.  The program was founded by the late Asokananda more than 20 years ago, and we were lucky enough to have his son, Chatchoi, teaching us thai massage during our time here.  A very special man, who I will tell you more about later. The course was intended to be a 12 day introduction to thai massage for beginners like me. The intention being that as a group we share the Lahu hospitality as accommodation is provided by Lahu families in simple bamboo or wooden style huts.

I was lucky enough to make good friends with a lovely Australian girl Kirstie. I wondered from the start how we were drawn to each other, we got on so readily and so easily, it really was a match made in heaven.

When we arrived at Lahu village, we were shown around the village. The highlights, which made me smile, were the 7/11, the coffee shop, and the pancake man. The 7/11 consisted of two different stores which were big spaces with not so much produce inside, in fact very little! But they had the basics and on occasion the small one even had beers ;) Not that I indulged during my time on the course, only when I had decided to leave... The coffee shop was the most adorable man in the world, a man who totally made my stay in Lahu manageable simply by his amazing coffee and his adorable warm and genuine smile. Many an hour I would spend in his coffee shop, talking to him about his day working in the fields or his thoughts on life. A very safe place. His family also made us the most amazing banana pancakes on a day when Kirstie and I were desperately in need of something a little more than just coffee.  We  I was never did find the pancake man though...the one we were told about, but honestly I think our loyalty very quickly became attached to our coffee man instead :)

We were shown around the available bungalows from which to choose. I was completely set on choosing a concrete room as I learnt from a friend who had attended the course earlier that you got bitten less in these ones. However Kirstie convinced me to share a double bungalow with her instead, or at least to give it a try. They were far more authentic and half of the experience in these adventures is the authenticity after all. Actually what completely swung the decision for me was when our teacher Che said to me "you are trying to make the decision with your head which is telling you be careful because of bugs, but if you listen to your heart you would hear it saying but I want to try the bamboo bungalow". Or something like this anyway, and it stuck in my head. We should always listen to our hearts, even if it is just to give something a try. Better to say you tried... So I soon found myself creating a cosy space for myself within a double bungalow with the lovely Kirstie.  I swear that is the single reason why I lasted in the village as long as I did. She was my sanity check, my rock, my friend and my encouragement on a daily basis. I like to think that I was the same for her also.

Within 3 days of the course I knew I was finding it extremely tough. I honestly didn't know, even back then, whether I was going to be able to handle the remaining 9 days.  It was potentially the toughest part of my whole adventure so far. The living conditions were so, so basic. It wasn't even about the basic side of it really, as when I was trekking the Annapurna Circuit we had much more basic conditions at times and I survived.  But to put it bluntly so you stand a chance of understanding just how this experience was for me here goes... I lived amongst wild pigs, piglets, cars and kittens, dogs and puppies, chicks and cockerels every single day. Every second of every single day. Some of these animals lived directly underneath our bungalow so they were my family, my annoying little sisters and brothers lol!  The toilet was effectively a hole in the floor and was a  long slippery walk from the bungalow. Some of the local woman actually just squat and pee on the pavement (well dirt track) that we all walk on to get to class.  I ate 3 meals of rice a day.  No joke - breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is eating rice because you are in asia, and there is eating rice because there is nothing else that tastes of anything nice to eat with your rice.

That particular morning I had been woken up by a piglet which was caught by a young boy maybe 5 meters from my bungalow (I know this because I could see through the major gaps in my bungalow walls). It was then slaughtered by my bungalow and I must have cried for 30 minutes after as that is just the most horrific noise I have ever heard and it broke my heart. I realize that this is perfectly natural and normal but in that moment, it was just horrible and such a deciding factor for me when it came to decisions around staying or going.

I had the most adorable dog called Bobby follow me everywhere for the whole time that I was in Lahu. Just amazing! Apparently he is well known for picking one or two people each course and following them. He slept outside our bungalow, if we woke for the bathroom in the night he was torn as to whether to follow the person leaving or guard the person left behind.  When we took walks to the outskirts of the village, which became more and more frequent as the days went on as a means of exercise and space and sanity checks, Bobby would join us and make sure that we were following behind safely all the time. Adorable!

There was a gang of kids (we called them the nasty devil children) who tried to aim their man made spears at us as we took a walk further up into the village, and then threw stones at us at different times. We were in class once and a cute little girl walked past the massage platform (which incidentally is a very special space) so we all waved at her. The response and hand gesture we received back was not a friendly cute little girls response! We have since heard that a few different groups of westerners staying in the village have experienced interesting things with some of the local children which suggests that perhaps they aren't as welcome as one would like to believe. However that said there were some equally adorable children and women who greeted you with the warmest smiles...:)

Meditation each day started at 6am, and then yoga at 6.30am. I was pleased about the early start, and enjoyed sitting quietly for meditation as it is not a part of my daily practice currently and I was excited to try it. The yoga was a little too basic for me unfortunately, and not aligned to the practice I had created for myself since leaving Rishikesh. I decided as it was optional to continue my own practice in my bungalow each morning which I did manage to keep going and it made me feel so calm and relaxed which was just perfect. There were some interesting personalities on the course, namely hippies, and I also discovered just how physically and emotionally hard thai massage is! I had an experience after practicing on Che that left me feeling exhausted, like someone had slipped me a sleeping tablet. I felt dizzy, sick and just horrible for quite some time. I hadn't 'protected' myself as we had been taught to so I must have received some of the energy she was releasing through the massage. Weird hey? I had that experience in my Reiki course in India also. We were being taught really well, and I loved learning from Chatchoi and his personality really shown through in his teaching.

Despite the coffee man, and enjoying the course itself I found myself waking up dreaming of the ocean, the sunshine, deliciously tasty, healthy and nutritious food and a sofa to lounge on. I was really struggling with the food, and having no protein whatsoever.

In an attempt to stay positive and grateful for the opportunity I decided to create a routine at the end of each day of sharing with Kirstie 5 things that had made me smile that day! So here are a small selection of the things that made me smile over the following days:

Day 4)
1) Gorgeous little girl who was terrified of us until I smiles and said Daveo (hello in Lahu) and then she gave me the worlds most beautiful smile and gave me faith that not all children her height in the village are devil children. I took a photo of her and she loved it!
2) I did a fabulously straight handstand on the second attempt with a beautiful backdrop;
3) Bobby the dogs loyalty - he sleeps by us to guard us, he fights the pigs and dogs around us to depend us when someone walks near our balcony during the night he whines to let us know he is there, and today walked us to the shops and back;
4) Stephanie (an angel) made me a big oval tine and a huge smile after having my minor meltdown over having no edible dinner;
5) We saw fruit on the tree by our massage platform and said wow as our mouths watered for fresh juicy fruit. Our teacher borrowed someones bamboo scaffolding and used it to pick us fruit :
6) An extra one for good luck - homemade ice cream by Che - banana and coconut flavor;

Day 6)
1) Chatchoi brought a fresh pineapple to massage class and stopped us practicing to cut it up and share it amongst us. It was like absolute heaven after struggling with bad food for 6 days.
2) I have been asked to teach a yin yoga class tomorrow evening;
3) Met a lady who is starting a retreat in Thailand and said we should keep in touch and I could be a guest yoga teacher;
4) A beautifully sunny day which allowed for a beautiful view from our massage platform, and a walk through the farms at lunchtime;
5) fresh veggies at lunchtime and the discovery of a bag of oats we can eat at breakfast instead of rice, and the fact they sell soy milk in the 7/11.

Day 7
1) Amazing coffee and omelette breakfast at the coffee plantation tour today;
2) The coffee plantation tour itself and seeing my first coffee tree and berries ever!;
3) Bobby and his friends joining us for the entire tour and fighting local dogs to protect us;
4) Ice cream and 3 baht spring rolls on the way to the waterfall;
5) Finding nuts and dried mango for sale in the town we stopped at on the way back to Lahu Village after the BBQ;
6) a cute little boy falling asleep on me in the truck on the way home.

#**#@@ - Handstands and scaffolding alert!!! - #@@*#@

a) Don't ever try to combine the two.
b) Don't ever try to do a handstand on an unstable surface, or near the edge of a platform with a 5 meter drop - it could, and very nearly did in my case, end badly....
c) LOL!!!

I thought I was being clever getting a nice backdrop picture when I did my handstand on our massage platform. Little did I realize just how unstable it was, and as soon as I straightened my legs I fell backwards and nearly over the edge of the platform. I managed to wrap my thighs around the scaffolding and hold on for dear life. It took a little while for anyone in class to notice, and then when they did everyone casually came to drag me up. I had scratches and cuts all up my body, not cool! That was the first and last time I will ever do a handstand so near to the edge of something lol ;)

Despite some beautiful experiences, I still couldn't be myself and relax. After the waterfalls day out, we got back to our bungalow and couldn't actually sit in the room because it was so entirely filled with intense smoke throughout the whole space. I was so worried that the beautiful dress that I had made for MP's wedding would be ruined forever. The next morning we were woken up at 5am by the loudest music ever, full blown conversations between people right outside our bungalow, and then the pigs munching on food under the bungalow, cockerels shouting at each other...and that was after the dog fight that happened next to us at 1am.  Oh and more smoke in the room first thing in the morning yet again as the locals killed yet another animal. It hurt our eyes and you literally couldn't see the walls for smoke. My belongings just stank, every single thing inside my backpack. I honestly woke up doubting how much this benefits my mental health. It was starting to become a total roller coaster ride of feeling so exhausted mentally and physically combined with Kirstie and I taking turns to talk each other out of quitting on the spot at least once every single day. There were tears from one of us every single day, and huge amounts of guilt about staying or going, or even thinking about quitting. Awful.  I look back and am proud at our fighting talk to each other every day.

All I could think about each day, each moment of each day, was all the amazing things that I could be doing if I wasn't spending my days in this village. The experiences I could gain that would give me pleasure elsewhere and help to grow me in different ways. So it wasn't exactly helping me to be mindful and stay present, no matter how hard I tried.

A very good yogi friend from India told me the following and it stuck with me throughout that final day:

"One of the toughest decisions to make in travel is when to stay tough and stick it out/third world mentality or choose another option for the betterment of the soul/body/mind". On the note of "whatever is good for the soul" I decided on day 8 for health reasons (mind, body and soul) to follow my initial instinct and leave Lahu Village. After spending the last night unable to sit in my room due to smoke, and having to take my asthma inhalor to cope with sleeping, waking up coughing and taking asthma inhalor again, wiping ash off my belongings, having every item of clothing I own, including my backpack and contents, stinking of bonfire smells, I realised that I could take no more. Even my skin smelt of smoke. This was not what the course was about for me.  The funny thing was that in earlier days I had felt immense amounts of guilt about leaving early, and that day I felt strangely calm and ready to say goodbye.

I spoke to my course teachers and explained how I felt and they all told me this:

"Sometimes being strong is to respect and listen to your body as to when enough is enough". So here I was respecting my mind and body. Che encouraged me to come back one day to Chiang Mai and finish the course there. She warned me that my mind had started to work on processing some important things while in Lahu and not to be surprised if that continued to work for a few days after leaving, and to expect a whirlwind of emotions and tears and to just embrace it. I didn't know what she meant exactly but I knew to be mindful of it and hold that close to my mind.

I finished the course that day on a total high by giving and receiving a kick ass back massage. I had said right from the beginning that I had wanted to stay until I had been taught how to give a back massage. Thank you universe ;)

I take with me huge life lessons and insights into thai massage. I felt so good about my decision, and so happy that Kirstie and I had supported each other as much as we had and had come to the conclusion together that we had reached the end of our personal line.  The lack of sleep and living conditions were really taking their toll quite severely by this point. My coach in Bermuda had been bombarded with so many messages about when is it acceptable to quit something that makes you desperately unhappy! His advice as ever was spectacular :)

That afternoon our teacher, Chatchoi, drove us personally to the bus station and we said our goodbyes. What a wonderful man he is. So special. He is one of those people who has the ability to reach deep within your soul without you even realizing that he sees everything, you don't need to speak a word. When we told him we were leaving he said "I know, it is ok. I understand". And I truly believe he did. I cried, because that is what I had become programmed to do in Lahu lol. But seriously I cried as I told him that it was because of him that we had such guilt about leaving previously, that he personally had kept us there this long. And what a wonderful, special, and insightful teacher he is. I really do hope that at some point our paths cross again. However if they don't then I feel lucky to have met him and have learnt from him for these last 8 days. I took a lot of him away with me when I left.

Kirstie and I travelled to Chiang Rai by bus that afternoon with the intention of spending a couple of days exploring temples and relaxing, before going our separate ways - me to Chiang Mai and coffee culture days, and her to Cambodia :)

Experience is everything people, embrace it all - the good, the bad and the ugly. It is experience that shapes our lives, and makes us become who we are destined to be in life :)

Smiles :) xox 

Cambodia - Phnom Penh

Cambodia - Phnom Penh 

After a fly through visit to Siem Reap, I needed to slowly make my way back to Phnom Penh to catch my connecting flight back to Bangkok to organise my visa for diving and yoga time in lovely Lembeh, Indonesia. 

I was so careful with my bus selection this time lol! Traveling friends - wherever possible travel with Mekong Delta Express Bus. It is a teeny tiny bit more expensive but worth every single dollar. Normal to the non traveler perhaps, but absolute heaven to the backpacker ;) Comfort as if first class travel, with AC, wifi, soft non plastic seats that almost fully recline, toilet on board which means we don't stop in a zillion places along the way, my knees don't touch the seat in front (I had never considered my legs to be that long until I started all these bus journeys!), amazing English speaking staff, free water, hand wipes, gentle music (I have experienced plenty of hideous party buses in Borneo and Nepal!). There is also a flat screen TV, westerners are not shoved to the back of the bus or shouted at. So nice, a smile goes so far for me :) I wanted to hug them for providing these small creature comforts and I felt huge amounts of gratitude that morning :) 

On our way we did stop once - haha and guess what I saw on all of the stalls everywhere on my way to the cafe?!? BUGS! For sale, to eat!! Horrible! I remember seeing them last time and wondering when they would appear! So many of them everywhere! 

I made it safely to my amazing hotel - thank you so much Tanya for the recommendation! I decided to keep the flashpacker part of my travels going throughout Cambodia and no regrets at all with this decision. My room wasn't ready initially so the manager offered me a free 90 minute whole body massage, it was just incredible!! I had, of course, planned a crazy busy sight seeing packed afternoon so this was fates way of ensuring that I sit still, relax and chill out for the afternoon. I felt so zenned out after my massage that there was no danger of me ignoring these key hints ;) 

The hotel was a funky little boutique hotel with amazing colours everywhere, flowers, small touches which made it so unique and special. I had two four poster beds in my room, a mini bar basket filled with wine, chips, sweet, nuts, chocolate and more. There was a TV, DVD player, laptop to use, speakers for my iPod, and a selection of books and DVDs to choose from. Each bed was covered in petals again, such a nice touch :) The bathroom was as big as my bedroom in Bermuda too.

So funny, I decided to take a small walk after my massage and found myself walking into a smoke filled corridor, so I ran like crazy to reception to tell them "fire, fire!". A member of staff found me wandering around the swimming pool and grabbed me and dragged me to the street - they had actually been spraying for bugs! So after being mildly embarrassed for not remembering this from my last time in Cambodia, I grabbed my map, gave him and his colleagues a cheeky grin and boldly walked off down the street in the opposite direction with my best "I know what I am doing" expression on haha!! I pulled out my map as soon as I could to find this chic little cafe (Gastrobar Botanico) I was determined to find, and a cute Australian guy on a huge motorbike pulled over to ask if I was ok and knew where I was headed. He gave me some simple directions and I headed off towards the Independence Monument, where I found a French son and father and asked them if they would mind taking a photo of me doing my daily handstand. They were intrigued and amused by the #handstand365 challenge :) After getting lost once more, and a security guard finding me and redirecting me I finally found the street I had been looking for.

After slight panic attacks at the top of the street after seeing a PwC sign on a building, I found my way to the cafe :) Thank goodness the australian guy had stopped and told me how it looked from the outside as I would have walked straight past. I entered a jungle, it was a beautiful setting! I ordered a huge sangria and some tapas and sat back and completely relaxed. Such a nice place to just sit and be. I had totally escaped the craziness of the city by sitting inside my own little jungle garden. I reflected on all the articles and tourist brochures that the waiter had handed me to read, and decided that I absolutely love this city and wish I had more time. There are so many coffee shops, cafes, and organic restaurants, and places where they do yoga in the parks or tai chi for example. I would never have thought this of Phnom Penh and was pleasantly surprised :)

I had the most chilled time ever in Phnom Penh, I wondered from coffee shop to cafe to book shop down side street after side street which is absolutely my favorite thing to do. I could have spent hours in that book shop just looking at books, debating which one to buy, and missing all of my books I left behind in Bermuda :( I found so many little places I would like to go back and explore. I retired later that day to the swimming pool and swam lengths before relaxing in my bedroom with a movie and bottle of delicious red wine.  I caught up on some of my journal and tried not to look at my ever growing 'to do' list. I didn't think a backpacker would ever have a to do list, I thought I would be free of all responsibility and organisation, however I find myself with the longest to do list ever and there is always a flight to book or a hotel to research, or a destination to find out more about. Tough things in life I have to deal with I know what you are thinking, but trust me sometimes these simple things cause me the biggest headaches in my day! ;)

I slept in the next morning which cut down my options of how to fill my remaining hours in Cambodia, so I sat by the pool and had a very slow and lazy and really delicious breakfast at the hotel. I decided racing around was not going to be part of my Phnom Penh experience and I allowed my body and mind to enjoy the peace and calming surroundings. In my truly unorganised Caroline fashion I managed to miss the opening hours of the Royal Palace which I had actually really wanted to see, particularly so I could do a handstand in front of the silver pagoda. A local tuk tuk driver instead took me to Wat Phnom, which is a Buddhist temple built in 1373. It is 27m high and the tallest religious structure in Phnom Penh so this became the venue for my handstand picture instead. I didn't get a good vibe from the place or the people from the moment I arrived, which was unpleasant. Really nasty energy there :( My handstand did manage to amuse a Russian woman who made me show her the photo while she exclaimed "I just love it too much darling! Here show my husband...".

Following this crazy little moment of not feeling safe I quickly made my way back to the sanctuary of my hotel swimming pool and garden. I should probably have asked someone to take a photo of me, right there, sat in my little garden chair with a book in one hand and a cold beer in the other doing nothing. Well, my version of nothing. Not something that I do very often at all, as much as I really do try to sit still. I envy people who can still for long periods of time. There wasn't anyone around so no photo to prove it so you will just have to trust me.  I sat there all afternoon stealing precious moments of calmness before making my way to the airport.

Cambodia, what a beautiful country you are. I am so pleased that I found my way here to explore, and I wish I had more time, but know that for sure I will be back again. I have loved every single second of my adventure :)

Cambodia - The Temples :) :)

Cambodia - The Temples :)

Cambodia was a last minute decision for me on this trip. I was due to be spending time lazing on a sun lounger on the beautiful picturesque beaches of southern Vietnam right about now.  Instead as the universe works in its magical way, the weather turned quite spectacularly nasty in the South and I instead took a trip which led me to meet a lovely couple from Brazil who suggested I travel into Cambodia. Initially I was hesitant at this idea, because how could 4 days possibly be enough to see all of the temples and relax a little along the way.  However they convinced me that they had seen Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples in a little under 3 days.  With these facts to hand I bought a ticket that very evening with help of Clare and Anne in Saigon to travel to Siem Reap the following morning.

Of course buying a bus ticket less than 12 hours before you intend to travel doesn't always end nicely...I really must work on injecting some organization skills into my world lol! I had booked a direct bus which took me straight from Saigon through the border of Cambodia and Vietnam, organizing my visa application, straight through Phnom Penh to Siem Reap arriving early evening into Siem Reap. Avoiding arriving in the middle of the night had been really important to me when booking, especially after what had happened in Saigon with the near mugging.  The journey to the border was perfect, very smooth sailing, to the point an english guy, on his way to Australia, and I stood around asking really? That easy? Really? Wow ok let's get back on the bus then.  However several hours later we arrived in Phnom Penh, and while I looked around for my transfer bus to immediately continue my journey as I had been promised - I realized they had just in true asian fashion, told me what they knew I wanted to hear and I didn't in fact had a direct connection at all. I am a little ashamed to say that right about then I wanted to burst into tears out of sheer frustration and exhaustion. I held it together long enough to go to the travel counter, where they confirmed that actually I would arrive in Siem Reap at 1am in the morning in the middle of a parking lot in the middle of the city.

So as a few friends, who were amazingly awesome in comforting this tired and upset girl - you all know who you are guys, know I found myself sitting in a cafe (I couldn't find a bar for love nor money for a stiff drink) and putting on my big girl panties and pulling them up nice and high and telling myself this wouldn't kill me.  And it didn't. Surprise surprise ;) Now as I am writing this, I can laugh at the ridiculousness of it and how silly of me to even expect it to be as I had expected. I mean really Caroline, you are in Asia. Vietnam of all countries. Come on now... So instead of my direct trip I actually had been sold a 4 hour wait in Phnom Penh so I sat in a cafe and drank coffee so strong I may as well have been drinking pure vodka for how quickly it hit the right spot, and lots of chocolate cake. You know how they tell you we girls comfort eat - it is a fact ;) I am not even going to tell you about the bus that I ended up on...let's just say that it most definitely was not the VIP ticket worthy bus that I had booked lol! By then I had given up caring and plugged my headphones into my laptop at the back of the bus and watched episode after episode of Prison Break - wow what an awesome series that is, and what a very handsome man starring in it. That made me smile ;)

Oh and the kind man who helped me to buy a sim card and took me to a cafe to chill out with an iced coffee on the journey between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Good people in the world.

Ah Cambodia, I will never forget the sunset that I saw that evening on the bus. It gave me such hope for a wonderful adventure, and it was absolutely right to give me such high hopes. I love sunsets. And I love adventures, so I knew I was in for the most amazing journey. And all of is unexpected, so even better :)

The 16 hour journey was more than compensated by the most amazingly luxurious hotel room I have ever seen once I arrived in Siem Reap. A very kind man collected me in a tuk tuk at 1.30am (thank goodness they sent him as it was a parking lot in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night...) and drove me off down some stupidly windy roads with pot holes the size of small thai islands, and kept turning round to smile at me as we went to make me know it was all ok. Nice ;) The room, OMG the room. I had gone onto Agoda during my sit in that cafe above and decided to blow the daily budget in its totality on a nice room and just go easy on entertainment in exchange for some luxury.  I stayed in a room which was the size of my entire apartment in Bermuda, even the bathroom alone was as big as my old living room and kitchen combined. There was a bath tub (yay total luxury as a backpacker!!) and flower petals scattered absolutely everywhere on the bed, in the sink, across the tables. A huge rain shower and an enormous bed, cushions everywhere and beautiful fresh flowers. I had a gorgeous balcony overlooking the swimming pool which was set in amongst the jungle and even more flowers everywhere.  It reminded me of a Balinese villa. I love that country. I was literally grinning from ear to ear at my decision to splash out on some pure self indulgent luxury in Cambodia. I was so excited I spent an hour doing handstands and crazy yoga moves to celebrate. Yes I am a little weird, but better that than normal ;)

I told the man in reception upon arrival that I would like to do the sunrise session at Angkor Wat and he smiled sweetly at me and said "no dear, you need to sleep now..." and turned away. I guess that told me to stop being so excitable. So I took his advice, slept in very late and woke up still smiling and made my way to quite possibly the nicest breakfast I have had since leaving Bermuda/England.  I couldn't take his full advice and rest all day, me being me, but I did rest until lunchtime and then I booked a tuk tuk to take me to see Angkor Wat in the afternoon.  It was such a special day for me, I really enjoyed it. I had been once before but with company which did not make it such a memorable occasion for me. This time around was just perfect, the crowds were thin, I had just myself for company and a lot of time and freedom to explore and get from it what I wanted which was calmness. It felt a little like visiting the Taj Mahal for me, but on a lesser scale of course. But the tranquility of it I mean. Perhaps that says more about where I am as a person now than about anything else. Regardless, it was a special day for me. I enjoyed and appreciated every second.

My tuk tuk driver was amazingly cute, I just adored him. From Angkor Wat we went to Angkor Thom to see Bayon, Baphuon and the Terrace of Elephants, then to Ta Prohm (the Tomb Raider temple).  We finished the day at Phnom Bakheng - a temple that makes you feel as though you are the top of the world. A beautiful view. Well it would have been spectacular had the sunset turned out to be a special one. The idea had been to get here in time for sunset and watch the colours explode across the sky. Unfortunately the world did not co-operate so instead of colours, we got a stunning scenery view which was plenty exciting enough. While at the top I sat very quietly meditating (or trying....I am not so good at sitting still for very long) and calming my mind from a busy day and loving my life. I really appreciated every single second of the day. Such a calm, mindful day visiting beautiful temples, and witnessing amazing sights from the moment that I woke up. Very lucky.

The next morning I woke up early for sunrise at Angkor Wat, it was a little disappointing with regards to the actual sunrise. It was grey and overcast, and eventually rained! I did meet a girl who showed me how to play with the settings on my camera to create moodier effects which was interesting. I spent a little time exploring slowly again Angkor Wat and then headed back to the hotel to relax by the pool.  The tuk tuk driver was keen to show me more temples but I had decided to have a relaxed day.....however I failed as by lunchtime the pool time made me restless, so I contacted the driver and off we went exploring once again. I am so glad that we did because we went to see one of my favourite temples - Banteay Srei.

Banteay Srei is a 10th century Cambodian temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.  It is largely built with red sandstone, which lends itself well to the incredibly elaborate decorative wall carvings which are everywere you look. The temple is well known for its amazing beauty and is why I fell in love with it as soon as I arrived. The colours of the stone were just spectacular, and I had to keep looking away and back again as it was so beautiful. I walked around it twice in complete awe. Just perfect, so glad I decided to leave the pool and go exploring :) The only time I ever seem to sit still is when a long distance bus forces me too ;)

It was such a funny afternoon, we had planned to see some temples but the heavens just totally opened on us on the way back. The rain would not stop. I think the driver was hopeful it would stop as he simply stopped to tuk me in with waterproofs and carried on driving himself without any sort of cover. He was wetter than you can ever imagine a person being!! In the end I stopped him and said please keep dry and he just smiled and said it is ok...we stopped at the side of the road for a while and it really didn't stop. While we were there 3 gorgeous little girls came to chat to me, and sell me their bamboo toys! They were just the most open, honest and adorable little girls you could ever imagine! They asked my name, my school, my age, my husband status - all sorts of things. Being girls, they stopped at the lack of husband status a while and told me confidently don't worry you are pretty, you won't end up alone! Hahahaha these girls were no older than 13 years old! I bought some of their toys and hung one from my drivers tuk tuk as a gift for him. The girls then gave me 2 extras for good luck and safety, which now proudly hang from my backpack like christmas tree decorations. You see every
time someone gives me something for good luck, I am too scared to remove it or jinx the luck ;)

I am so pleased that I bumped into Camilia and Gustavo that day at the Chu Chi Tunnels and they told me it was possible to get to Cambodia and see so much in 4 days. I wouldn't have made the journey otherwise, and look at all the amazing sights and experiences I would have missed out on! It's been a brilliant few days in Siem Reap.  I deliberately kept away from the town centre in my choice of hotel, and by only seeing the temples and then retiring to the hotel restaurant at night. I really needed some time out to be just with myself, and it was the perfect trip for me to calm down and unwind and appreciate stuff and things :)

Next stop Phnom Pehn before slowly making my way back to Bangkok for visa runs again....