Counting down...

Time flies over here! It's already our last day in Cambodia. We're still in Sihanoukville, so of course we spend it at the beach. This week we spend our days lying at the beach, snorkelling, lying at the swimming pool, drinking gin tonics, riding around in tuk tuks, relaxing on a boat and eating. So we pretty much enjoying ourselves. Tomorrow we will travel to Bangkok and then our trip almost has come to an end... First we are going to enjoy our last night in Sihanoukville, cheers! Xxx

Phnom Penh in one day

We took the boat from Siem Reap to Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh. Yesterday we had one day to check the city out. We learned all about the terrible history of Phnom Penh (and Cambodia) by visiting the killing fields and S21 prison. It's hard to imagine how the Khmer Rouge killed 3 million people in less then 4 years. After this we visited the russian market and had lunch were we tried the traditional Cambodian dish (fish) Amok. It was very good! In the afternoon we went to the royal palace. And then we figured out that was enough for one day. By the way, for some reason a lot of women wear their pyjama's outside. Orange ones with flowers, hello kitty, angry birds, we've seen them all! Today we arrived in Sihanoukville to spend some days at the beach. Our hotel has a swimming pool so we consider ourselves very lucky! Xxx

Country number 3: Cambodia!

Yesterday we arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia, after a long long day of travelling (from 6 in the morning leaving from Cat Ba island, and we arrived at the hostel about 13 hours later). The mister from the hostel welcomed us with a nice refreshing drink and told us that our room would be totally mosquito free. But when we walked in our room about 50 mosquito's attacked us, we had never seen so many mosquito's together... So we kindly requested to get the room fixed.

We walked into town to get a taste of the city and found out Siem Reap is verrry touristy. Big hotels, shopping malls, blinking lights and night markets. After a quick meal and a drink we went straight

to bed.

Today we had a private tour to Ankor Wat to see all the temples you can do in one day. It was an extremely hot day, but it was nice to see the temples you know from pictures. Luckily there were not that many tourists.

In the end of the day we waited for the sunset for an hour and a half, but that was a little bit dissapointing.

Tomorrow we are planning to relax a bit at soom pool or spa, before going tp Phom Penh the day after. XXX

Cat Ba island (near Ha Long Bay)

We were glad we could leave the crazy traffic and the noise in Hanoi behind, when we took the bus and boat to Cat Ba island. It's beautiful here, and so quiet! It is pretty cold though, so as soon as we arrived here we bought 'real' authentic Adidas jackets for a few dollars, real livesavers, but very ugly! The first morning here we went hiking at the national park. First we took a nice ride at the back of a motorcycle and then we met our guide, dressed in fancy grey trousers with very clean white sneakers. He took us up and down climbing rocks. It was very slippery and at the end of the trek we were completely covered in mud. (Miriam also had a minor falling incident with a few scratches and even more mud) Of course the guide was still spotless, his white sneakers looked even whiter then before... In the evening we went for some cocktails at the Rosebar, our hang out place here. It's very tacky, with a lot of bright neon lights, and they only play songs from The Beatles or Michael Jackson. But the very cheap Tequila Sunrise tasts very good here! Today we had a fun packed day with a long boat ride, kayakking and visiting some monkey island and a big cave.

The guides didn't speak any English so we had to guess the whole trip. The first time kayakking the guy just waved to the left and we had to figure out that it meant we had one hour to kayak around a rock formation, go to the right, then straight on to find a cave. Of course nobody found the cave and it took us a long time to find all the people back that got completely lost somewhere. But the whole trip was great and the scenery was stunning.

Tomorrow is our last day on Cat Ba and in Vietnam, then it's on to Cambodia! Xxx

Crazy hectic Hanoi

After spending a week in very relaxed Laos we decided it was time to move on to Vietnam. One last small, pretty groce anecdote from Laos: at the last place we went for breakfast, after we got served, our waiter decided to sit down in the middle of the small restaurant and there he started clipping his toe nails.... It was so discusting! Anyway... Yesterday we travelled to Vietnam capital Hanoi, which is the total opposite from Laos. It is total chaos down here! Neon signs and millions and millions of scooters and motorcycles with people honking every second. The noise is unbelievable! Every time we cross the street we are fearing for our lives. Yesterday we visited the night market where I (Miriam) became the proud owner of a brand new fake Chanel wallet. Today Anita got a new pair of brand new real Allstars and we walked around the old quarter for a few hours.

We met a lot of travellers before that warned us about Vietnam and that we really have to watch our belongings. We went to a hip clothes store where I tried on a blouse. As a complete idiot I forgot my camera in the dressing room and 1 second later it was gone, of course. Anita immediately spotted a girl, she thought acted suspucious. We asked if she and her friend could show their bags, as they just came out if the dressing room, but nothing. The girl Anita pointed out sneaked out of the store and I ran after her and I asked her if I could see her bag again. She showed me half of it but luckily my camera has a bright green cord, so I spotted it in the back of her bag and took it back again. I was sooo happy I still had all my photo's! And big lesson learned, really never leave your stuff out of sight!! After all the chaos here, we can't wait to get out tomorrow when we will make the trip to Ha long bay. Xxx

Riding with elephants

Today we hadgreat day as we went to an elephant village to take a ride with elephants. When we booked the trip we made sure we booked with a good organization that doesn't harm the animals and that takes good care of the elephants. The area was beautiful and the trip was very relaxing (but a bit scary at first) We also got a quick lession on how to ride on the elephants ('Pai Pai' = Go, 'How how' = stop), After a lunch break I (Miriam) went on to go bathing with the elephants, which was an amazing experience. My elephant was called Mason and she was 48 years old and very friendly.

We ended the trip with a great boat ride and a refreshing dive in the beautiful swimmingpool at the village.

We are so relaxed now that we already feel sad that we have to leave Laos soon. The atmosphere is so nice hear, it makes you want to stay a lot longer! And it's pretty cheap here... today we had dinner at the food market for less then 1 euro. We met some travellers that warned us about Vietnam, where we are going next (not nice people, bad weather etc) That we are a bit worried and will try to enjoy our time in Luang Prabang as much as we can! xxx

Life is (mostly) very relaxed in Luang Prabang

We are staying a little longer in Luang Prabang as life is pretty good here. Yesterday we went to see tourist attractions number 1 and 2, the Pak Ou caves and the Kuang Si waterfalls. First we went on a boatride along the Mekong river for 2 hours (with of course a stop at some village were they sold souvenirs).

Before we jumped in the boat we found out we were total amateurs as we stood there in our t-shirts, when everyone else was wearing cardigans and jackets. It was so cold on the boat! The caves were kind of dissapointing (not that big, not very impressive). Luckily the waterfalls were beautiful! -

We went there with a small minivan, complete with driver with no fear of death. We almost got into an accident as he wanted to pass a tuktuk in a curve (haarspeldbocht) when another van came from the other side. Luckily nothing happened and we could enjoy the scenery of the waterfalls. Today we just walked around a bit, did a little bit of sunbathing at the riverside and bought our first souvenirs from laos. Tomorrow we will have an exciting day with elephants! Xxx

Lushious Luang Prabang

After 2 days in Vientiane it was time to move along to Luang Prabang, a bit up north. We had read nice things about the place and we have to say: it's very, very nice here...

We walked over a bamboo bridge over some river and ended up at a very relaxed place with beds overlooking the river. As soon as we lied down we changed to a complete zen state of mind. After a view hours of relaxing it was time for a little more action and we climbed up a hill to see the sunset from a small temple. After that it was time to relax again, with cocktails ofcourse! Tomorrow we have a long day ahead of us to see caves and waterfalls in the neighbourhood...