Around the world in 367 days

Indeed you may ask! Whilst her siblings went on to find fame as a 90's Celtic pop band, the unfortunately tone deaf Anne was disassembled and then turned into an amusement park in North West Cambodia.

I jest of course (slipped through Deborah's jokeometer again!!), I am referring instead to our visit to the Angkor ruins near Siem Reap, including Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and Bayon. We spent 3 days visiting the ruins, the first day in luxury on the back of a tuk-tuk and the second two on bicycles, clocking up 70k taking in the sights.

Highlights were Ta Kei (hard to get to so you have the Ta Prohmesque temple to yourselves), Ta Prohm (but easy to get to so hundreds of Koreans and Japanese on tours appear devouring all the tranquility), Bayon and Angkor Wat itself.

I could go on about it more, or you could just check outs the photos here...

Posted by Alexander at 12:00 | Permalink | Comments

Aware that I generally use more superlatives than you can shake a fish at¹ I thought I should write about some of the negatives I've experienced over the last few months. Whilst generally it has been a great experience it doesn't always come up smelling of roses.

Smelling of Roses?

Plumbing appears to be in it's infancy out here. Quite often the guesthouses, though very clean, have bathrooms that emit fairly indecent odours. They don't seem to be able to get the water balance correct in the pipework so the fundamental design principles of modern plumbing practice are not observed - and it stinks!! We are shopping at the budget end of the market though so cold water showers, questionable plumbing and the odd awful experience is something we are going to have to live with.

Fellow Travellers

Whilst most of the people we have met are great you do end up coming across people from the other end of the spectrum (if you are reading this and I met you travelling, you are some of the good guys!). For instance, ignorant travellers chastising kids for either not being at school or in bed but instead selling bracelets or collecting cans on Cambodian beaches. It's not like they have a choice, their parents would have sent them or school isn't an option they can afford. It's not like they have three full meals waiting for them, followed by a few hours on the Playstation and then tucking into a comfy bed with some warm cocoa. Life can be very different out here. Ignorance is one of my big bug bears!!

Litter

Litter is generally a problem out here. I hate it when I see people dropping litter in the UK but here everybody does it and some places are just filthy. Cambodia is the worst but it's still an issue in the other countries. It's a beautiful region out here but how long can it stay that way?

The one that got away

Even though we are travelling for a year there is still a bunch of stuff we'd like to see that you just can't so you have to compromise in places. It does give me a good excuse to come back one day (ie Southern Laos and Northern Cambodia) but it's more irritating when opportunities are taken away. As an example, we travelled to Kampot just to see Bokor hill station, an eerie abandoned French Hill town. However, the place was closed for three days so that the prime minister could open a new road. Now, quite why it would need to be closed for three days just to cut through a piece of ribbon or why he would personally look to sabotage my travels when he could be looking at improving healthcare, education and infrastructure is beyond me!! I guess we are going to have to put up with the odd disappointment!

The one that got away (II)

I love taking photographs and I hate a missed opportunity. Some of the best views you get are as you are travelling between places and either the moment passes too quickly or the bus window isn't the greatest foreground. I look forward to the time when they invent a brain camera attachment to take a mental picture the instant you need it. However, flashing and erecting the tripod in public might be frowned upon!

Poverty

It wasn't really seen in Laos too much. Whilst being one of the poorest countries in the world with an average salary less the one pound a day, a lot of people, particularly in the small tribal villages, live at a subsistence level and hence poverty remains relative. Poverty was evident in Thailand and Vietnam but prevalant in Cambodia. This problem being caused by the country's gruesome past and a history of government corruption. A lot of people don't like the begging that goes on by kids and victims of landmines. It's not a problem (to me) as such, you can help the odd individual but the real problem is that you can't help everyone. This kind of aid needs to be coming from a government level and there is no real sense of that happening here.

Mosquitos

We do all we can to avoid being bitten by covering up at night and using a deet spray but still the odd one gets through the defences (usually due to my complacency) and then really goes to work. Usually it's around the feet and then a day or two later the itching really kicks in! You also have to take doxycylcine every day, and with me having a memory like a stick, I'm probably missing one or two a week, but so far, touch fish, no sign of malaria!! The mosquitos cousin, the fly, is also problematic and whilst I appreciate their role in the food chain I don't appreciate their role walking across my Thai Green food chain!!

However, the good news is that none of these particularly interfere with me having what is still a fantastic time (I had to include one positive superlative)!!

Notes

¹ I know that generally the phrase is more commonly used with sticks but I think this encourages a wasteful attitude. At a time when de-forestation and China's insatiable appetite for raw materials threatens the supply of wood I do not believe we should wilfully wave around sticks. These should be used for building fences or sheds or making lollipop sticks. The melting ice caps are creating a larger habitat for fish and whilst excessive fishing practices exist at present, if these can be resolved we could find ourselves with plentiful supplies of fish that could be waved around. You might say you would have enough fish to shake a fish at? Or you might not...

Posted by Alexander at 09:51 | Permalink | Comments

...followed by a few games of pool and the obligatory beer or three! A
pretty accurate description of life right now in southern Cambodia!

Posted by Alexander at 12:00 | Permalink | Comments

It's been a while since I labelled anything as a highlight. The problem hasn't been a lack of stunning scenery, great people or great food. There just hadn't been anything to really make me take a step back and try and take it all in. The choice might seem a little odd at first but read on!

We have always tried to make sure we get a decent view of real life in the countries we go to and in Cambodia we got a full dose and then some. We saw a side of Cambodia that most locals don't see, let alone us tourists, spending three days this week with the Cambodian Childrens Fund (CCF) in the care of Scott Neeson (the founder) and Lisa Jones. The organisation was set up in 2003 to help care for some of the most impoverished children in Phnom Penh. Today it is certainly doing that; originally a site for 45 children, they now have 4 main sites caring for over 300 children, a community day care centre, the provision of community relief programs and much more.

The majority of the children come from an area surrounding a garbage dump, the largest in South East Asia, on the outskirts of town. From an early age a lot of these children are sent by their parents to work long days and nights in appalling and dangerous conditions sifting through the rubbish for less than a pound a day. Children helped by the organisation are taken in due to various backgrounds. Many are abused by drunk or aggresive parents, others sold into the sex trade and many are severely malnourished.

Our first stop was to be the dump. Ironically, the first impression you get is how happy these kids seem. Faces light up as Scott arrives on what seems a desolate scene and the kids all rush to meet him. The poorest live in small wooden shacks with tarpaulin or cardboard roofs and walls and no sanitation. The 'rich' still live below a level I've seen before. The affection these kids have is also bestowed onto us, they want to meet us and walk hand in hand with us as Scott does his rounds through the dump. Everyday, laden with a list of notes from the previous day he visits the most neady families. However, every day heralds new problems, whether they be cuts incurred from working on the dump or parents threatening to pull their children out of the organisation unless they are paid considerable sums of money.

At the time it's actually hard to appreciate how hard some of these kids have it. It led to a pretty sombre mood each night though as you start to replay things you have seen through the day. Over the three days we got to see some of the good work being done whilst also seeing the problems first hand. One of the more striking things was the visible difference between those waiting to attend CCF and those already being helped at one of the centres. We were there on a weekend, when most of the children return to their homes; those already in CCF had clean clothes and hair and just seemed to have a glow and confidence about them missing from the other kids. The children know that getting an education is the best way out of it - 'Take me to study' was a common request as we walked around. Some of these families are first generation victims of Pol Pot's regime and educating these children is going to be the best way to ensure a better future. They are also receiving soft skills training and the manners of these kids is great. We took a small group for a ride on an escalator (there are only two in Cambodia so not as dull as it sounds) and an ice-cream and they were so well behaved through out the whole trip.

It's quite humbling to appreciate the personal sacrifices that Scott and some of his team have made in pursuit of their cause. I'm not running it myself this year for obvious reasons but if there are any budding London Marathon runners out there looking for a worthy cause this would certainly be a deserving one.

More pictures in my gallery!!

Posted by Alexander at 13:23 | Permalink | Comments

I've been told that travelling for a year will change me and given the time of year, new year's resolutions and all that, I thought I should list some personal insights into myself to try and help push me in the right direction. It's by no means an exhaustive list and not necessarily things I want to change about myself but here goes:

Introvert

For a start I don't want to change this. There's no such thing as an introvert or extrovert - it's a scale and everyone fits somewhere along that line; my attributes definitely put me nearer the introvert end. However, given that I am publishing my inner thoughts to six billion, more or less, potential readers (Source: Katie Melua, Sony Records Statistics Department) I have to admit I may have a little extrovert in me somewhere. When I was younger I wanted to change this - society seems to think that being extrovert is better. It's not, we need a range of people and I'm happy with my place wavering nearer the introvert end.

Confrontation

I've never been too good at confrontation. I don't want to actively seek it but I would like to improve my dealings in this area and I should get plenty of opportunities over the year. I've had a couple of pretty decent arguments in Vietnam that I would not have done as well in had I been in the UK so perhaps I'm getting better already.

Manipulation

I tend to be easily manipulated. I don't think it's that I'm easily led but comes more from a deep seated need to try and keep everyone happy. I'll generally prefer that someone else is happy rather than me but when three parties are involved it sometimes means that you might get pulled in opposing directions. I think I need to be more forceful in terms of what I want but not to the point of arrogance.

Inanimate Objects

I would regard myself as fairly well mannered but I definitely have a short fuse. More often than not the recipient of the explosive at the end of said fuse will be an inanimate object and subject to a torrent of obsenities. My worry is that people and inanimate objects often mix - should I get a decidedly flat looking burger on a bad day my Michael Douglas impression might get a little close to the mark. (This keyboard has a sticky shift key and I have made it clear in no uncertain terms exactly what I think of it, the piece of ****!)

Sense of humour

Is it dry? Is it wicked? Is it cryptic? Is it even funny?? Debs often proof reads my posts and gives very dissaproving looks for my 'jokes'. As far as I'm concerned if it makes me chuckle, and the smallest things do, then it stays in. Verdict - no change!

Blogging Skills

I've been told my blog looks like it was written by a twelve year old. Others have compared me to the likes of Tolstoy, Flaubert, Shakespeare and Rowling! Yet others have said it's the first thing they read in the morning and the last thing they read at night! For my part I hope my literary prowess improves over the year with insightful discussion inducing (that's you guy's) topics filling these pages.

Of course, if there is anything you think worthy of note please feel free to comment - though do bare in mind the one I missed off - I'm decidedly over sensitive!!!

Posted by Alexander at 12:00 | Permalink | Comments

... Viet Nam grows on you!

Our first few hours experience in the country weren't great and didn't leave us with a great impression. The next week things started to get better and then as we headed south we started to bump into more and more of the nice variety of Vietnamese.

It's a very beautiful country and it's been a great place to explore in the end. Christmas in Da lat was pretty different and Ho Chi Minh City was a pretty cool place to spend New Year's Eve! The food here has been excellent and we've met some lovely people.

After a month in the country I think I'm probably ready to leave but I could definitely see myself coming back. That itch will have to be scratched sooner or later!!!

Posted by Alexander at 15:12 | Permalink | Comments