Birthday time!

So the time has come to turn 30, everyone that knows me knows that I wanted to celebrate big and do something exciting!

The first round was a massive joint party I had with Steph to celebrate us traveling and my birthday back in September. We both had such an amazing time and were suprised by the amount of people who turned up. Thanks to all that came, it was such an amazing day and a great way to say goodbye!

Secound round was the big trip, back when I was 21 I knew I wanted to go traveling and to do it before I was 30, things don't always happen the way you planned and I wouldn't want it any other way, I started before the big 3 0 and I get to share this amazing experience with Steph!

Round 3 was the big day it self and the final part (I think I've dragged this on enough, don't you think?) and what a way to do it, it started with Steph waking me up with a present, she'd bought me this really cool leather bound diary! We then went for breakfast and had poached eggs on toast (my fave) then headed to the beach!

The night before we had arrived in Sihanoukville which is basically your standard beach resort, lots of bars, hostels and beaches!
We made our way to Otris beach which was the quietest one a good ten min hairy tuk tuk ride out of town.

We found our spot and just chilled...

We also went for lunch and met a really cool Ausie guy who was pumping out the tunes which encouraged us to get on it, or at least have a cold beer! Jonny had been traveling last year and found Otris Beach. He loved it so much he came back 6 months later and is currently building his own guest house on the beach, legend!

We then intended to have a nice romantic meal out but in true Mikey and Steph style it didn't quite happen like that! We went for a quick drink and met another interesting Australian (who we'll hear more of later) called Aaron. Aaron had literally rolled into town after an epic 24 hour trip out here. The drinks started flowing and it wasn't until we'd downed the first jager bomb of the night that we realised we hadn't eaten - fried chicken and chips to share? Yes please!!!

The rest of the night is a bit of a blur but evidence shows us Steph managed to find some ultra violet face paint!

All in all a bloomin brilliant birthday! Thanks again to all that messaged me, you added to the perfect day!

Lots of love from a very chilled out Mikey
Xxx

Battambang!

After a sad fairwell to Siem Reap we made yet another epic journey, Battambang here we come!

Another early start of 6am saw us take a mini bus to the 'port' for a boat trip, what this actually meant was a 20 min drive out of town to a flooded village to then change to a cart and a tractor, one for us and the other for our bags, amazing! After a 10 min bumpy but hillarious journey we found said port - a hill with a boat floating on water! This was our boat which would take us through some incredible floating villages and finally end at Battambang. The boat trip didn't go fully to plan (I'm seeing a pattern to our trips), after about an hour of cruising over a river we found ourselves confronted by a massive mangrove blocking our route. Our captain was not phased by this and floored it straight through the mangrove!!! As you can expect we finally came to a stand still stuck in the middle, brilliant! The next hour consisted of the boat men digging us out with various methods which saw us free but wait what's that??? The captain had wraged his steering wheel so much it broke. He then took it apart, fiddled about a bit and then re-assembled, forgetting one screw which a passenger found later on (no worries we don't need that bit!)

We then went on our merry way which took us 7 hours in total including a 15 min stop to a floating cafe which had the most amazing toilet; a small hut hanging over the water with a hole in it! As we arrived into the Battambang port (a hill) we could hear some shouting and cheering, I thought there was some sort of party going on but no this was the many tuk tuk and taxi drivers shouting for our attention, I found this hillarious but it got even more funnier and slightly scarier as the boat pulled up they all ran onto the boat to get us to stay with their guesthouse!!! On our boat trip we met Cassie and Ciara, two cool Irish girls who are coming to the end of their year trip, we ended up going to the same guesthouse as them and also spending the next two days hanging out.

Once we got booked into our guesthouse we then went for a walk to find our bearings, after a coversation with the guesthouse Tuk Tuk driver (more on him later). Battambang is a nice little town with a busy market and a few bars but a lot quiter than Siem Reap which was a nice break.

The next day we decided to meet up with Cassie and Ciara and do a couple of the sights, we were then greated by the guest house tuk tuk driver - Burney! Who asked us if we wanted to do a trip with him, this was the third time he'd asked us and to be honest we just wanted to do our own thing and fobbed him off with 'we'll think about it' As we were having a fruit shake and waiting for Cassie and Ciara they both came out with a bemused face, Burney had told them we were waiting for them to then go with him to the sites... um what? We went off for lunch and laughed about it untill I heard a Tuk tuk pull up beside me "Hey Mike!" Burney had followed us (stalker) and said he hasn't had any work for 5 days and needed the money. As horrible as it sounds I fobbed him off again as I was shocked and a bit freaked out! We managed to loose him during lunch but spent the next day looking over our shoulder for a Burney shaped shadow!!!

After lunch we flagged down a tuk tuk driver, not Burney, and managed to get our trip for a lot cheaper. We also managed to stumble across a really cool driver who gave us a mini tour around the city with comments, perfect. He showed us a monument; after the Khmer Rouge had collapsed the local people called for an arms collection and collected all the weapons used in the civil war. Everyone gathered in Battambang and burned all the arms, they all wept as they knew the war was over. Once the fire had stopped a few locals collected the melted metal and created the monument as a symbol of the cease fire, I thought this was really cool but I think our Tuk Tuk driver told the story better.

He then took us to the grand finnally which was the bamboo train, oh my goodness this was AWESOME!!! It's the only train track going through Battambang (for now anyway, they are building a high speed one at the moment) and they do tourist rides, the 'Train' is basically an empty wodden bed frame which sits on two wheeled brackets that speeds accross the track, it was actually quite scarry! But loads of fun, we stopped at a local village and hung out with the locals for a bit which was really nice and then made our hair raising journey back!

Battanbamg was short but sweet, but now it was time to start celebrating - 30 is nearly here!

Mx

All Templed Out!

Sorry for the silence folks but we've been busy busy busy and some places we could not get WIFI or internet so I'll back track a bit.

Soooo... Temples of Angkor, Siem Reap. We spent a pretty amazing 3 days (spread out over a week) and a total of about 20 hours wandering around Cambodia's amazing Angkor complex.

Day 1 we started with a very moody Tuk-Tuk driver. We started at Ta Prohm which was, I think, both of our favourites! This is the temple where they filmed some of Lara Croft where humungous tress literally grow out of the ruins of the temples, they have decided not to resore this temple as it is so beautiful in its ruinous state. The rest of the day was spent around some of the less well known (but no less impressive) temples including Banteay Kdei, Preah Khan (this was surounded by water and I ended up having a very damp foot for the rest of the day!), Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon and Pre Rup (Lots of steps!).

Day two was after a few drinks the night before so we went in the afternoon and did the Rolos Group which are the older pre-angkorian temples. The first one was pretty small and ruined but we met this great Cambodian guy who used to be a monk but now is learning to be a teacher and he showed us his class room which was below where the monks live! To finish off we went back to Pre Rup which is one of the highest temples and climbed to the top to watch sunset which was awesome (although slightly precarious climbing down in the near dark!)

The last day was pretty epic. Up at 4am to be picked up at 4.30am with a guide to watch sunrise at 6am over Angkor Wat. Amazing and beautiful, although I don't think me and Mike were the most attentive students for our guide at that time in the morning. We then made our way around Angkor Wat and then to Angkor Thom and saw our first elephants and saw the equally amazing Bayon Temple which is made of over 200 smiling faces!

Love S x

Lets get our party on, Siem Reap Style!!!

Meeting up with Helen has been great as not only has she shown us round, given us tips Helen also introduced us to her Volunteering buddies. On Friday we all met up for a 'couple' of drinks which turned into a heavy night consisting of getting to know the 'Bucket drinks

which is basically half a bottle of spirits with a splash of mixer in well... a bucket! All for around 3-4 quid. It's safe to say we didn't realise how potent these were and spent the following day resting our weary heads (we left the hostel twice, for food) It was a great night out which ended up in Angkor What? which is one of the many party bars on Pub Street, we danced on the tables till the cows came home (normal western behavior) We then had to perk our selves up on Sat night to join the crew again for a 'Same, Same but different' night. We all bought T-shirts with 'Same Same...' written on and a pair of the coolest (fake) Ray Bans we could find, I've got some sweet ones that look like they're made of wood and Steph found a pair of purple rimmed ones :) We were taken back to our student days by being given a challenge card which saw us swapping our tops, doing a human pyramid contest, getting a kiss from people with a name beginning with a letter from our name and many more silly but fun games. We were wise to the buckets this time and actually made it out of our room on Sunday. As well as getting involved on the very touristy pub street we also went for a Khmer BBQ! A hot plate arrived on our table as well as a veggie plate and a stack of interesting meat plates... We started off cooking up the beef which was lovely, next came the prawns, then the crocodile (oh yes I said crocodile) then onto the Snake (yep that's right) and we finished off with a couple of frogs legs, yum yum! It was all really tasty apart from the Snake which was very chewy! We still have more to tell about our Siem Reap adventure, we'll fill you in soon. Much Love, Mike and Steph.

Around Siem Reap

So we've been in Siem Reap for 6 days now and we've seen some pretty amazing things (besides the floods getting ever higher!) A few of the more random things include 2 people on a scooter carrying a dead cow, Monkeys in the middle of the road, minding their own business, two inter-locking evil looking dogs to name but a few. We've spent some time getting to know the harrowing history of the Khmer Rouge and have seen many things that remind you that it really was not long ago!

We stopped by an amazing little photography gallery adjoined to the children's hospital set up by a photographer who raised money to build a hospital for the mine victims and the children around Siem Reap as the infant mortality rate is horrendous (still 1 in 15).

And today we took a 1 hour tuk-tuk ride with Helen to the Cambodia Landmine museum which was a real eye opener... Founded by a guy who was recruited as a child soldier at the age of 10 and was made to plant landmines as young as 5 years old, he has dedicated his life since the war to clearing landmines. His story is amazing and something that you could never even imagine but now he has also set up an orphanage which teaches 36 poor, injured and sick children of which many have gone on to higher education and full time employment.

Due to Helen knowing one of the girls who volunteers there, we also got a rare opportunity for a tour around the school (not open to visitors) and saw some lessons being taught and all the plans for the physiotherapy department (to be opened soon!!) Needless to say we were all very moved and became more aware of how lucky we are to have had such a stable upbringing.

Aside from all of this one thing that you really get from being here is that the Cambodians do not feel sorry for themselves, they get on with their hard life and it is safe to say they are the most smiley and happy people around.

Sorry for the depressing post but we both feel it was important to share these experiences with you. If you want to find out more about the Cambodian civil war you can google 'Pol Pot' (as I knew pretty much nothing about it). S x

Thailand to Cambodia.

So after staying in our lovely shoe box in Trat we headed down to get a mini bus at 7 am to Chanthaburi where we were ambushed by taxi drivers and had to virtually run into the bus station.

Next we jumped on a coach to Aranyaprathet which was a bus ride and a half. For the first hour I swear the bus driver didnt top 30MPH as he stopped every mile or so to pick up more people. Then he suddenly just decided to put his foot down and we spent the rest of the journey clinging on as he over took mopeds, pick ups and even lorries at break neck speed! We eventually make it in one piece to the bus station where I endured the 'squat toilets''! We then jumped in a tuk tuk to the Thai-Cambodia boarder where the fun really started.

We were dropped off outside a Cambodia Visa place and told we had to búy it there for 1000 baht 20 quid/$30. But we were wise to the scams and I left Mike standing confused as I ran away, it takes him a while to get his bearings! Anyway we then managed to get through Thai customs where we managed to pick up a 'very helpful volunteer for the boarder crossing''. Had to pay the officials 100baht for an ''express passport service'' and our little friend was still following us. At this point we knew he was not just being helpful and would probably try to scam us at some point.

After having our fingerprints taken and getting into Cambodia (and picking up a nice South Korean guy to share the taxi) we got shuttled to the bus station (volunteer in tow) where we were advised to exchange our money for the local Cambodian Riel (at an outrageous exchange rate) so we wouldn''t seem like foreigners (I think our white skin and map are tell tail signs!) and get in a taxi which was double to price of the ones on the road. Anyway got the cheap taxi (Taxi driver had to pay volunteer a fee, HA!) and after an annoying 2 1/2 hour journey where taxi driver stopped to 1, pick up his mate, 2. get fuel and 3. have his car washed!!! he dropped us about a 5 min walk out of town where we were meant to get in one of his mates tuk tuks but we were stubborn and walked it.

The guest house room smelt funky and did not have hot water as promised so we got them to move us into a sweeter smelling one with a balcony, score! Siem Reap is great, even the floods aren't a problem (if you don''t mind being ankle deep in water all the time)

. And we bumped into Helen, who is a friend of Lisa's and she is going to show us the town this weekend! So stayed tuned for more Cambodian adventures! Love x

And Relaaaaaaaaaax!

Hello you lovely people!

After our hectic few days in Bangkok we set off on an 8 hour journey to Koh Mak. We set off at 4am in a taxi to the east side Bus Station where we turned up not really knowing what we were doing but managed to find the right ticket office and booked our self onto a bus which left at 6am to Laem Ngop where we eventually got to a pier in the middle of no where and jumped onto a speed boat, how we managed to get this far I have no idea!!!

The speed boat was a 45 min bumpy but refreshing ride (it's bloomin hot out here) which left Stephs hair resembling Bridget Jones after an open top car ride. We arrived onto the small and quiet island of Koh Mak, and what an amazing site it was. We took a truck ride to the resort and drove past hundreds of palm trees and a massive rubber plantation, we really were in rural Thailand. As we were being taken to our VILLA, we spotted our good friends Olly and Sally. It was so good to see them and they gave us tips and ideas for our trip as we lazed around the pool and then had dinner with them, although I think they got a bit of a shock as we ruined there sun bathing session.

Koh Mak really was a great place to be but we realised this was a massive treat and needed to make our way back budget-ville so Tuesday saw us take the first speed boat back to the main land and head to Trat where we stayed in a 200 Baht a night guesthouse, 4 quid a night - boom! Trat is a small town and acted as the perfect go between, we are now about to make an even bigger journey towards Cambodia, first stop Siem Reap. Lots of Love and stuff,

Mike and Steph. xxx

Bang - WAT!!!

Being in Bangkok has certainly been a learning curve.

Thursday was our first full day which we spent dodging scam artists telling us the Temples were shut, which they weren't. This is one of the main scams we heard about so we knew not to believe them and eventually got to see the many Wats and Budda's that surround Bangkok. It is slightly annoying being asked time and time again 'You seen Black Budda? Where you from?' but it has been awesome, the sights and smells are incredible but three days is certainly enough.

Another mishap we had was getting pick pocketed! They are so slick, I was sat having a drink with Steph talking about how guarded I am and I need to just relax, how ironic is that! But it hasn't ruined our spirits! We've managed to get in everything we wanted to see including Siam square and China Town.

We have now decided to go to an Island called Koh Mak where Ollie is staying. We realised we needed to just stop and have a think about where we wanted to go and which route to take.

We've already met some really nice people and hopefully we'll bump into them on the way, they have also had a few scams thrown at them so it isn't just us. We'll be staying at the Koh Mak Retreat, check out the webpage it looks awesome! http://www.kohmakretreat.com/

Right the lady boy receptionist has ordered us some amazing Thai food! I'm off. Lots of Love Mike and Steph x

we should have learnt thai!

So after spending the last hour first trying to get onto the internet and then trying to figure out how to change the language on blogger from thai to english (all the instructions were in thai which was helpful!) we are finally ready to make our first blog from thailand! So the whole process of getting here was pretty smooth and we had a lovely taxi driver who tried to teach us how to say hello and thank you. We've met our first lady boy (the receptionist in the hostel) had our first pad thai, had a wander down the Kho San Road and got caught in our first torrential rain shower! We are very much looking forward to our first full day in bangkok tomorrow. Peace out fools!

Let the Journey Begin!

Over the last year and a half myself and Steph have been hiding away saving ever penny like a pair of saving squirrels!

We are now set to go and fly to Bangkok today! Can you believe it???

We'll be updating our blog when we can, to keep you all posted on our movements, we hope we don't make you too jealous.

Be safe and we'll see you on the other side.

Lots of love and hugs

Mikey and Steph

xxx